
Book t £2E 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A DAY-DREAMER'S HARVEST 



D AY- DREAMER'S 
HARVEST 

BEING MEDITATIONS 
BY HENRY BYRON 



The Lord giveth to His beloved dreamless nights 
and dreamful days 




NEW YORK 

MORGAN SHEPARD CO, 

MCMVII 






UBRftRYofCQNGRFSS 

Two Qoaies Received 

JUN T 190f 

. Copyrnrhf Entry 

CLASS /fit KXC, No. 

COPY B. 







Copyright, 1907, by 
MORGAN SHEPARD CO. 



TO 

J. GEORGE FLAMMER 

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED 

AS A MARK OF FRIENDSHIP AND ESTEEM 

BY THE AUTHOR 



FOREWORD 

"LJ A VING reached life's autumn, I looked about 
for the harvest. I gathered the fruit of all 
my days on earth; but when I began winnowing it, 
lo! the most was scattered like chaff, and only a few 
grains remained that might be garnered in human- 
ity's storehouse for the mind. 



[ 7 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

HPO be capable of the highest enjoyment of life, 
our mind must be strong, our heart good, our 
imagination vivid; we must be, in some measure, 
philosopher, philanthropist, and poet combined. 



^MUSEMENT should fill only the recess hour 
of the school of life. 



\7t7"HAT a man's amusements are gives a good 
clew to the kind of man he is. 



A/TISTAKE not for pleasure all that goes by that 
name: most coins in circulation bearing that 
stamp are counterfeit. 



nPHE task of our life is like the task of the vestals : 
within us. 



to keep burning the holy fire, the divine flame 



[ 9 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

"VTDU will enhance life's relish by seasoning useful 
activity with cheerful diversion, and earnest 
thinking with sweet dreaming. 



TV/TAR not the pure joys of life by overfastidious- 
ness. The clearest water may disgust us if 
we examine it through a microscope. 



nPHE cemetery, the city with the silent streets, 
where people are all the time seen moving in, 
but never moving out; where the inhabitants are 
housed in the narrowest dwellings which they never 
leave; are surrounded with monuments, trees, and 
flowers at which they never look; where visitors 
always find the people at home and never see them, 
stop at the door and never enter the house, are never 
welcomed and yet come again, are never met with 
unkindness and yet are often seen to weep; where 
above-ground riches and vanity try to make dis- 
tinctions between man and man, while strict 
equality reigns within the houses underground. 



IFE'S currents keep flowing into the sea of 
death and are renewed by inexhaustible springs. 
The present is swallowed up by the past and re- 
born out of the womb of the future. We lose those 
that have given us life, and a new generation grows 

[ 10 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

up around us. Death is ruthlessly reaping and 
life is lustily sprouting simultaneously. We return 
from the burial of our parent and, with tears in 
our eyes, rock our shouting child on our knees. We 
receive at the same time invitations to a funeral and 
to a wedding, and a call is often made upon our 
bleeding hearts to participate in joy. 



A/TAKE not of religion a mixture of folly and 
selfishness. Think not it consists in belief. 
There is no merit in believing. Believing in things 
because you would like them to be true is a triumph 
of egotism over reason and is not creditable, but 
derogatory to human nature. Rely not on what 
others are supposed to have done for you: such a 
supposition is another instance of the triumph of 
selfishness over logic — for it is entirely unreason- 
able, though exceedingly convenient, to assume that 
what you are to do for yourself has been done for 
you by another. Imagine not that being religious 
means driving a bargain with the Lord: giving very 
little and getting very much; performing some 
ceremonies that require no sacrifice and receiving 
eternal life for it. 



"DELIGION, when most degenerated, wages 
war with knowledge and reason — as if the 
Omniscient and All-wise favored ignorance and 
folly! 

[ ii ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TN broad daylight appear no ghosts; in the light 
of knowledge superstition and fanaticism dare 
not show themselves. 



A S long as the Jews renounce not their race, they 

will not find the recognition they deserve — for 

whoever keeps aloof from the rest will, in a rude 

state of society, meet with ill-treatment, and, in the 

most civilized, only find toleration. 



/^RUEL fate of the Jews! They had a country 
and they lost it; they gave the Bible to the world 
and the world proved anything but grateful to them 
for it; their civilization is incomparably older than 
that of any modern nation, and they are treated with 
contempt by them all. While their monotheism 
and their ethics are the corner-stone of modern civ- 
ilization; while some of their race are worshipped; 
while their literature is declared to be inspired and 
their history sacred; while their forefathers are 
reverently called patriarchs, and their eloquent 
patriots — prophets; while their Psalms are sung in 
every church and their writings quoted as a text for 
every sermon, nay, engraven on the very tombstones 
as the last consolation and hope — they have been 
for centuries and centuries persecuted, tortured, 
and killed, and millions of them are still denied 
human rights. Worst of all: they themselves 
understand not their own condition. They act not 

[ 12 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

with the dignity becoming a people who had stood 
highest among nations by their ideals and whose 
humiliations through centuries have been owing 
to mere brutal force. 



^TOT the fastening of holy verses to head and 
arm, gate and door, is of importance, but the 
idea symbolically expressed by it: to be mindful of 
the word of God in thought and deed, when coming 
in and when going out. 



A LL meat and drink are clean, if honestly earned 
and moderately enjoyed. 



FRINGES in the border of a garment, a full 
beard, an incision in the flesh — may mark a 
people, but cannot distinguish it. 



/^OD, the ideal of perfection, is the only true God. 
Worshipping anything that diverts us from the 
road leading toward perfection is idolatry. The 
people at large will always be worshippers of idols : 
of riches, titles, position, power, vanity, sensuality — 
and only very few will be found in each generation 
who serve the Lord. The conception of the ideal 
of perfection: "Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your 

[ 13 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

God am holy," was long confined to a very small 
people; living up to that ideal will always be con- 
fined to a very few people. 



\XfHEN sustaining a great loss, and depression 
is assailing you, take a deep breath, stretch 
your arms, walk a few steps, look at the*beautiful 
world, and say to yourself: "I live, I breathe; there 
is strength in my arms; my feet can carry me; my 
eyes can bathe in the sweet sunlight. How can I, 
the possessor of the greatest treasures on earth, be 
bowed down by any external loss?" 



I 



A" 



S the contrary winds ripple the surface of the 
river but cannot change its course, so the storms 
of adversity may harass the good and brave, but 
cannot make them swerve from the right path. 



P\OING good ought to do us good; to be just and 
generous ought to be as natural to us as breath- 
ing, the condition of our well-being. If we do good 
expecting a reward from Heaven and thankfulness 
from men, our moral views are those of children 
who behave well looking forward to presents. 



[ Hi 



MEDITATIONS 

TN the book of God where our deeds are recorded 
the balance is often in favor of those who are 
seemingly not good, and not at all in favor of those 
who are apparently much better. 



TV/f ORALITY teaches us to lead a pure and good 
life; religion does the same and more: it in- 
spires us with love, with enthusiasm for purity and 
goodness. Morality appeals to reason; religion 
does the same and more: it appeals also to the heart. 
Morality deals with life and our relation to our 
fellow-men; religion does the same and more: it 
considers eternity and our relation to God as well. 
Religion imparts to morality fervor, imaginative- 
ness, elevation. Religion is the poetry of ethics. 



pANATICISM sees in art only frivolity and 
sensuality; in science only human presumption 
against the Deity; in joy, amusement, and play only 
worldliness and sinfulness. It comprehends not 
that the principal impulse to art is enthusiasm for 
the beautiful in God's creation; that science con- 
tradicts not God's wonders, but reveals them all the 
more; that cheerfulness, the offspring of a sound 
mind in a sound body, cannot but please God; that 
art, science, and enjoyment of life are not against 
religion, but in perfect harmony with it. 

[ 15 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

t^ORMAL praying at a certain hour and in a 
certain place is like the regular morning and 
evening kiss a child gives its father. The prayer 
which, independent of time and place, springs from 
our grateful heart, is like a child's fervent embrace 
when moved by a feeling of love and thankfulness. 



"T\IFFERENT nations have different laws, but 
nature has the same code for all; the customs 
of one country differ from those of another, but 
human nature is everywhere the same; each religion 
contains its own dogmas, but reason and conscience 
teach all men the same doctrine. 



CUICIDE is becoming of more and more frequent 
occurrence — for faith and hope, abounding in 
promise and pointing to the future, are losing hold 
on prosaic and material modern humanity believing 
only in facts and caring only for the present — and 
faith and hope have been for ages the soothing balm 
for the innumerable ills of life. 



T ET not those who lightly walk the earth con- 
demn their fellow-traveller who, weary unto 
death, throws off the burden of life — for as little as 
the healthy can enter into the mood of the dying, 
just as little can they in the full enjoyment of life 

[ 16 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

conceive the feelings of those that are weary of it. 
God alone who gives life may judge him who ends it. 



/^EREMONY is, at the best, but the reminder, 
not the fulfilment of our duty. 



TLJE who loves mankind and rejoices at all mani- 
festations of man's nobler nature will con- 
sider with reverence all religious ceremonies 
embodying higher ideas, whether they are the 
ceremonies of his own church or those of another. 



1) ELIGIOUS ceremonies embodying high ideas 
are enacted poetry. 



A RELIGIOUS ceremony may continue for a 
while after the idea it embodied has left it. 
Its soul has departed; but the people know it not, 
and the body is not laid in the grave. 



AWS, customs, doctrines that have lost all 

meaning by entirely altered conditions cannot 

continue long. When the leaves are withered, they 

[ 17 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

may still cling to the tree for a little while; but the 
wind which will blow them down is sure to come 
soon. 



TJ Y declaring the unessential part of a religion to 
be of as great importance as the essential, we 
expose the whole to the mockery of infidels. 



'"THE Old Testament represents all that is left 
of old Hebrew literature. Its contents are so 
various and the various matter is so intermixed that 
ordinary readers will never be able to judge rightly 
thereof, unless it is sifted for them and divided in 
sections according to the subject it treats of. There 
would be an historical, a biographical, a legendary, 
a poetical, a rhetorical, a philosophical, a ritual, an 
ethical, and a religious section. The reader would 
then clearly see what the book contains, and find, 
to his great surprise, what a small part of it treats 
of religion. 



CO-CALLED sense of honor, which has sprung 
up in the soil of paganism, has self in view. It 
values bodily strength, skill, and courage, and de- 
mands cancelling an injury received by inflicting a 
greater. It aims at having the world ruled by the 
strong. Brotherly love, which has sprung up in the 
soil of Judaism, has the welfare and feelings of 

[ 18 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

others in view. It enjoins kindness, patience, 
humility, forgiveness, to overcome evil by good. 
It aims at establishing the reign of righteousness, 
the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth. 



U*OR ages the human mind had been chiefly 
pondering on metaphysical subjects. As, how- 
ever, man cannot outstep the limits nature has 
drawn — his thoughts, trying to encroach on the 
domain of the preternatural, continually struck 
against insurmountable barriers and could not 
proceed. It was only in recent times that man 
began confining the greatest part of his mental 
activity to the study of nature, his own province, 
and his discoveries and inventions in the short time 
have been wonderful — have changed the face of the 
earth and revolutionized the entire mode of his 
life. 



BOOKS are the building-material of a nation's 
literature. Whatever serves not to enlarge or 
beautify that national literary structure cannot 
properly be called a book. 



TpHE same relation that an object bears to its 
distorted shadow on the wall, reality bears to 
the description given of it by many an author. 

[ 19 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



T 



^AKE the people as they are. Appreciate and 
praise what is good in them; pass over what 
is not. Make no attempt at correcting them by 
sermonizing. If you are better than they, try to 
set them an example; if you are not, who made 
thee a judge over them? 



TF we could only be independent of others and 
free ourselves from our own follies and vices! 
but our social conditions and our individual frailties 
and passions make slaves of us all. 



HP HE Government has to protect us from being 
wronged by others, but not from being wronged 
by ourselves. It has to guard our rights, but we 
must watch over our morals ourselves* Being 
placed under tutelage makes us puerile, blunts our 
perception of good and evil, and weakens our moral 
strength to refuse the evil and choose the good. We 
see not, then, the ethical laws which the Govern- 
ment wants us to observe; we see only the force the 
Government exercises over us, and we try to circum- 
vent it. The child is to be taught morality at home 
and at school, but the adult may be expected to 
know the laws laid down by nature and the con- 
sequences of their being transgressed. 



[ 20 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

POLITICAL liberty is not of much account if 
we are economically dependent, and economical 
independence is not of much account if we are the 
slaves of our own follies and vices. 



C^UR claims on ourselves should be very great and 
those on others very small. 



/^LD age is more compassionate than youth — for 
to have lived longer is to have suffered longer, 
and suffering engenders compassion. Old age is 
wiser than youth — for there is no better foster- 
mother for weak human wisdom than experience. 
Old age is more charitable in its judgment than 
youth — for having gone through many vicissitudes, 
we are better able to put ourselves in the place of 
others. Old age is more disinterested and self- 
denying than youth — for, having often had to take 
care of others, it has been confirmed in the virtues 
of disinterestedness and self-denial by long practice. 
Old age is more patient and forbearing than 
youth — for the trials of life make us stronger, as 
fire hardens clay, and we bear with more resignation 
the ill-treatment of fate, and with more forgiveness 
the injustice of men. Old age is less prejudiced 
and more just in its views than youth — for, as 
time goes on, the passions that bias our opinions 
decrease, and our knowledge of men and the world 
that rectifies our errors increases. 

[ 21 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

p* ACH individual acting for himself alone can do 
but little; the union of many who, while work- 
ing for themselves, are, at the same time, working 
for one another, can achieve the greatest exploits. 
On this union civilization is based. The canoe 
made of one hollowed-out trunk is emblematic of 
the primitive condition of man; the ship built of the 
beams and boards of many trees is emblematic of 
civilized society. 



HPO be rich in intellect and poor in means; to be 
most refined and condemned to live among 
the rude; to have a noble and sensitive nature 
and be subject to the mean and domineering; to 
be susceptible of all that is beautiful and con- 
stantly surrounded by what is uncouth and un- 
gainly; to have a mind soaring heavenward and 
be chained down to the earth by every-day cares; 
to love nature and solitude and have to live amid 
perpetual noise and turmoil — that is the fate of 
many a martyr without the glory of martyrdom. 



TX^HATEVER our lot, we may fare better; we 
may fare worse. The consideration that we 
may fare better precludes idleness — for there is 
still much left for us to do, to improve our condition; 
the consideration that we may fare worse precludes 
discontent — for we have something yet to be thank- 
ful for. 

[ 22 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

"yOUTH is occupied with itself. It enjoys life so 
fully and demands from life so much that it is 
entirely absorbed in enjoyment and expectation, 
and has no time nor thought for others, for reflec- 
tion or observation. It loves the present, hardly 
thinks of the past and, as to the future — which it 
considers to be all its own — it troubles no more 
about it than a man does about his means securely 
invested. Old age, on the other hand, conscious of 
the individual's insignificance, of the lessons con- 
tained in the past and the problems presented by 
the future — extends its thoughts and endeavors to 
humanity and the universe, and, while borne along 
on the wave of the present, looks up the stream into 
the past and down the stream into the future. 



TN old age we are inclined to think and speak of 
the past. After having walked long on life's 
road, the view before us diminishes in extent and 
loses in interest — and we frequently turn round to 
take a look at the more extensive and more beautiful 
scenes we have left behind us. 



TZ"NOWLEDGE is favorable, not detrimental to 
religion and virtue. The sun of enlightenment 
warms the heart while it illuminates the mind. 



[ 23 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

^yOUTH i s fond f tne WO rld — for the world is 
a perpetually shifting scene, and youth delights 
in change. The older we grow, however, the more 
develops in us an inclination to rest, the friend of 
stability, and we get more and more in conflict with 
the restless, unstable world. Finally the perpetual 
change, the ceaseless turning of the giant-wheel, 
becomes confusing, tormenting — and when Death, 
with the promise of rest, appears at the threshold, 
he is not unwelcome. 



Y^OUTH m tne exuberance of health and strength 
is apt to abuse both — just as the rich are prone 
to be extravagant. Old age must husband out 
what health and strength it has left — for the poor 
have to economize. 



TN old age, time seems to fly more swiftly than in 
youth — for when old, we enjoy less fully life's 
pleasures and undergo less impatiently life's tribu- 
lations, so that the duration of either joy or pain 
seems shorter. 



TN mature age we are more sensible and less 
passionate; we are both better shielded and less 
assailed. 



[ 24 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A GILE youth considers not that it will gradually 
change into slowly moving old age, and wintry 
old age can no more remember the spring-like 
feelings of youth. Children see not in their parents 
the image of their own future, nor parents in their 
children that of their own past. Were it otherwise, 
youth would honor more old age, and old age would 
find more pleasure in the companionship of youth; 
children would be more loving and obedient to 
their parents, and parents more forbearing and for- 
giving to their children. 



"V^OUTH is welcome, for we like to see a youthful, 
blooming face; old age has to make itself 
welcome by amiable qualities. Youth recommends 
itself; old age has to be recommended. 



VOUTH does not see death — for life in all its 
glory stands like a dense, green forest between. 
It is only in the late autumn of life, when all illu- 
sions, one by one, have fallen off like dead leaves, 
that a view of the grave opens to the eye. 



DOOR city-dweller! every day thy friends, the 

sunlight and the pure air, would like to come 

and see thee, to gladden and refresh thee; but, 

hemmed in as thou art by a thousand walls and 

[ 25 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

hidden in a labyrinth of streets, they cannot reach 
thee. 



TN great cities the very tombstones must often 
make place for dwelling-houses. Life there is so 
aggressive that death itself has to yield to it its 
premises. 



/^H, the great city ! where nature lies buried under 
the paving-stones, and the natural inclinations 
of the human heart are choked by love of money, 
love of pleasure, and love of display; where, in the 
overdense human forest, but few can thrive and so 
many must suffer; whence a thousand unnecessary 
articles are sent to repay for the harvest of thousands 
of acres which it consumes; where the great temple 
of Fashion stands and whence the worship of this 
idol is propagated; where the head is overworked 
and the nerves are overstrained; where immorality 
and crime find most victims and the best hiding- 
places; where the streets are haunted by hideous 
sin, pale-faced disease, and gray-headed care; where 
vices and follies swarm as thick as gnats on a sultry 
summer's day. 



"LJOW sweet is life's autumn! The burning heat 

and the violent storms of the passions are over. 

Life's sun is still shining brightly and warmly; but 

its light dazzles no more and its warmth is temper- 

1 26 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

ate. Observing and thinking begin — the delightful 
rambles of the mind in the garden of God. Our 
inner life, which by the continual restlessness of 
youth, had been like the tossing sea, now resembles 
a calmly flowing river conscious of its goal. The 
people around us whom, absorbed in ourselves, we 
had but superficially known, now have our due 
attention and for the first time are understood by 
us fully. Expecting now little from life and the 
world, and having been set free by kind nature from 
the bondage of many desires, we are more ready 
to sympathize with those who are still in life's spring 
or summer, whose longings and expectations are 
ardent and who are stung to the quick by dis- 
appointments. 



'""PHE great city, devouring the country all around, 
is spreading farther and farther. The field is 
trembling, the forest is shaking. "What has be- 
fallen our neighbors will soon befall us too/' they 
say mournfully to one another, "the city, the ever 
advancing conqueror, is approaching; it will mow 
us down, bury us under pavements and brick 
walls. ..." "Hush!" interrupts a tall tree, "I 
see a man coming, the being who is the cause of all 
the destruction. Look, he is going up to the great 
oak; he is fastening a paper on it. Alas, that is its 
death-warrant and the doom of us all!" A shiver 
runs through field and forest. 



[ 27 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

DROVIDENCE allows us mostly a few drops of 
sweetness in which to dip the bitter herbs of life. 



/TJOD needs us not, but our poorer fellow-men do. 
Soothing and consoling words, spoken to the 
old, the sick, and the unfortunate, please God better 
than all the hymns we chant to Him, and raising 
up a fallen brother is more than raising a church. 



\yI^"E must not try to draw God down to earth, 
but strive to lift ourselves up to Him. 



^HE Lord giveth to His beloved dreamless nights 
and dreamful days. 



f\UR innocent pleasures are as pleasing to God 
as the joys of a child are to its father. 



TT is harder for humanity to attain equality than 
liberty, and hardest to attain fraternity. 



CILENT tears spring from a deeper source than 






loud weeping. 



[ 28] 



MEDITATIONS 

' I *EARS flow from different and opposite sources: 
from grief and joy, from mortification and 
gratefulness, from disappointment and hope ful- 
filled, from love lost and love won, from despair 
and hope revived. They are, consciously or un- 
consciously, a libation offered to the supreme 
Power when the heart is appealing to Him or render- 
ing Him thanks. 



' I^EARS unshed flow inwards and furrow the 
heart; grief unexpressed soliloquizes in the 
heart where it is imprisoned and makes it doubly 
sad. 



*HE inward storm exhausts itself in tears, as 
does the tempest in rain. 



/~\UR present tears have mostly been rising for 
some time out of our troubles, like vapors out 
of the waters, clouding our head and heart — and 
now, by an insignificant cause, perhaps, fall down 
like rain. 



CUNLIGHT breaking in rainbow glory through a 






cloud offers not a more beautiful sight than joy 



shining through tears. 

[ 29 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A S the swollen river overflows its banks, so our 
feelings run over in tears when they find no 
more place in the oppressed heart. 



"XJ^THEN l ac k °f j°y an d abundance of sorrow 
has long been our lot, we sometimes feel as if 
all within us were parched and withered and our 
heart is athirst and faint. Then Heaven sends us 
relief in tears, and each drop falls on our suffering 
heart like the blessed rain on a dry field : refreshing, 
reviving. 

/^[.REAT misfortune comes over us and, be- 
hold! all our every-day troubles, that had 
been chafing and fretting us so much and so long, 
become suddenly insignificant in our eyes. In the 
presence of the great affliction, our petty cares ap- 
pear in all their littleness. But why had we ever 
allowed ourselves to be tormented by them ? Had 
we not known that terrible disasters visit the 
children of man, and had we to wait for the ap- 
pearance of one of them at our door to find out of 
how little account our daily vexations are ? 



CUFFERING must be an integrant part of ex- 
istence, or how else can it be explained why 
the All-merciful has introduced it in the scheme of 
creation ? Certain it is that man is purified by it, 
as gold is refined by fire. 

[ 30 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A GREAT grief is like a deep wound: it may 
heal, but at the slightest incident we are re- 
minded that it had never healed completely. 



CCHOOL yourself to bear patiently the irritating 
sting of the petty vexations with which life is 
swarming, and be prepared for the great trials of 
life. 



/~\UR cares frequently make us selfish. They 
engross all our thoughts, so that we have no 
thought left for the problems of humanity; they fill 
all our heart, leaving no space for sympathy with 
the cares of others. 



JOY brightens the eye, while grief and care make 
it dim — for the eye, dependent on outward light 
and darkness, is also affected by inward sunshine 
and gloom. 



K? 



""NIGHTS in armor on their prancing steeds 
have been more than once overthrown in 
battle by peasants in blouses and on foot — for the 
consciousness of fighting on the side of right en- 
dows the warrior with miraculous strength. 



[ 3i ] 



MEDITATIONS 

r\ETAILS of wars and battles occupy by far too 
much space in our histories. This dates from 
the time when warriors — the forefathers of kings 
and nobles — were considered the only important 
persons and their wars the only important events. 



TPHE importance of historical events is to be 

measured by the degree of their influence on 

human progress, either in promoting or checking it. 



' I A WO hostile armies ready for battle may pray 
at the same time for the help of God — but 
God knows which army bears the banner of the 
good cause. 



T^HE progress of humanity is owing to a wonder- 
fully small number of men who, one after 
another in the course of history, have taken, Atlas- 
like, the whole globe on their shoulders and carried 
it farther. 



TPHE literature, art, and philosophy of the 
Greeks; the generalship, statesmanship, and 
jurisprudence of the Romans; the ethics and 
ideals of the Hebrews have made an indelible im- 
press on the human mind. 

[ 32 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

' I *HREE little countries have had the greatest 
influence on the development of mankind: 
little Palestine, little Greece, and little England. 



TPHE teachings of a small, secluded people and 
the language of a small, insulated country 
— the teachings of the Hebrews and the lan- 
guage of England — seem destined to become uni- 
versal. 



A S the winds carry grains of seed to distant fields, 
so political storms frequently carry the germs 
of civilization to remote countries. 



TN determining the merit of a Look, the foolish 
consider the author; the wise consider the con- 
tents. The foolish want a personal authority; the 
wise judge of everything according to its intrinsic 
value. 



TPHE body of critics is composed of the most 
heterogeneous members. From the learned, 
profound, incorruptible judge, espousing the cause 
of truth and justice and susceptible of all literary 
beauty and grace, to the ignorant, superficial, and 
prejudiced detractor — are represented therein. 

[ 33 ] 



M EDITATIONS 

A LL respect to critics whose arrows are sharpened 
by wit; but shame on those whose arrows are 
poisoned by malice. 



TT is as incumbent on the learned to impart of 
what they know as on the rich to give of what 
they possess; but selfishness often steals even into 
our noblest endeavors, so that, wrapped up in the 
high enjoyment of enriching our minds, we forget 
our duty of making others share our acquired 
treasures. 



"\X7E like to have our eye deluded by art— for the 
better the artist succeeds in making the in- 
animate look animate and the impalpable look 
palpable, the greater is his art, and the higher is 
the enjoyment in contemplating his work. 



J3EOPLE with natural manners are like a limpid 
brook: you can see their character, their way 
of thinking and feeling, all their inner life as clearly 
as you can see the pebbles on the bed of the brook 
through the transparent water. People with arti- 
ficial manners are like an ice-covered river: the 
movements of their heart and the currents of their 
thoughts, all the inner workings of their individual 
character, are covered by a uniform, cold, rigid 
exterior. 

[ 34 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TF we give people cause to think that we are not 
fully satisfied with them, they will not be satis- 
fied with us either — for our dissatisfaction with 
their conduct implies that we think ourselves better 
than they, otherwise we should make allowance for 
their shortcomings, as we expect them to do for 
ours — and people dislike those who think them- 
selves their superiors. 



DEOPLE in general envy the rich, find the world 
very wicked, and have much to say about the 
ignorance and dulness of their fellow-men. Con- 
cerning worldly advantages they look up; concern- 
ing moral and mental qualities they look down. 
To the detriment of their contentment and im- 
provement, they do just the contrary of what they 
ought to do. 



IIOOKS may be likened unto rivers. Some are 
clear but shallow; some are deep, but not clear; 
some are neither clear nor deep; some are both. 



'^JOBLE thoughts in abstruse books are like 
treasures hidden away. 



THOUSANDS of newspaper sheets may not fill 
a single line in history. 

[ 35 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

|Z*NOWING another language besides our own 
may be of the greatest moment. The circum- 
stance that Paul knew Greek besides Hebrew 
greatly contributed to the victory of Christianity 
over paganism. 



HPO the English language seems to be reserved 
the high destiny of becoming universal. Shoots 
of various languages, brought to Britian at different 
times, gradually grew in the new soil into one vig- 
orous tree which spread its branches all over the 
island. Before long, shoots of this tree, exported 
to all parts of the world, developed in the soil of 
North America and Southern Asia, Australia, and 
South Africa into such mighty trees that they hold 
forth the promise of becoming still greater than 
the mother-tree. 



'"THERE are plants which, in the most rigorous 
season, only need one warm, sunny day to 
push courageously their little heads out of the earth 
and bring forth leaves and blossoms which, may- 
be, will be nipped by the frost on the very mor- 
row. There are men who, in the darkest time of 
adversity, need but a few rays of fortune's sunshine, 
and they raise their drooping heads, and their 
hopes bud and bloom which, perhaps, will be 
withered again the very ensuing day. These 
plants and these men we cannot contemplate with- 
out emotion. 

[ 36 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

'"THERE are poor, happy, pitiable, enviable men 
who, like the bird warbling gayly on a bare 
twig at the approach of spring, rejoice hopefully 
all their life long in the midst of destitution — but 
their spring never comes. Ever in want, yet ever 
cheerful, their mouth filled with singing and their 
heart with hoping, they carry spring within them, 
while winter is always around them. 



A VOID coldness in social intercourse, but just 
as much too much intimacy. Come near 
enough to people to feel the warmth of good-fellow- 
ship, but no nearer — just as you would come near 
enough to the fire to get warm, but no nearer. 



T>E a good listener; allow yourself to be instructed 
in the knowledge of human nature in this natu- 
ral and direct way. 



"*RUE politeness springs from the consciousness 
of man's worth. 



' I *HE only thing that awes the foolish and the 
ignorant is power to which they have to yield. 
I dare say, the bird flying across the river looks 
down with disdain on the clumsy human creatures 
that crawl along the bridge; but as for the bridge, 

[ 37 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

and be its structure ever so ingenious, the bird 
regards it not. On the other hand, the bird im- 
prisoned in a cage is, I dare say, struck with awe 
at the ingenuity of man that devised such a strong 
prison, baffling all its efforts of escape. 



1PHE great capacities of the mind and the noble 

qualities of the heart, if not attended with 

power, impress but little the multitude. Even 

religion would not strike them with reverence, if 

it was not for the belief that God is all-powerful. 



/^JUR folly is so great that we often buy ourselves 
masters, and pay a high price for what hurts us. 



TPHE foolish are often proud of what they ought 
to be ashamed of, and ashamed of what they 
ought to be proud of. 



TPHERE are irremediable follies which, once 
committed, can never be remedied — as there 
are incurable diseases which, once contracted, can 
never be cured. 



% OLLY is easily swayed by passion, for both 
take only the present into consideration. 

[ 38 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

' | *HE foolish seek to obtain honor through 
haughtiness: they want to call attention to 
their dignity by showing their vanity. 



U*OLLY has a larger kingdom on earth than 
wickedness — for much of the wickedness of the 
world grows in the soil of folly. 



HPHERE are people who have good hearts and 
evil tongues. Their folly often cuts off com- 
munication between their heart and tongue. 



'""THE foolish dislike being alone: they are poor 
company even for themselves. 



A/TANY parents treat their children as children 
do their dolls: they caress them, they pass 
their time with them and exhibit them proudly. 
That they bring up beings whose body they are to 
render strong, whose mind they are to render bright, 
whose heart they are to render good — seems not to 
occur to them. 



[ 39 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

C^XCITEMENT preys on our health and puts us 
in a state of irritability which often disqualifies 
us from being rational or just in word and action. 
It has the same effect on children. It is injurious 
to them physically and checks their development 
in mind and heart. Beware of exciting them; be it 
by teasing, surprising, threatening, or hurting them. 



' I *HE little child is to be properly fed, kept clean, 
and watched over by its mother; but not con- 
stantly carried about in her arms, seated in her lap, 
talked to and crooned over. It must be accus- 
tomed from the very first to pass its time as much 
as possible by itself. That the child gives no peace 
to its mother is mostly the result of the mother 
habituating the child to want her even when it does 
not need her. 



COME parents who are said to have left nothing 
to their children have transmitted to them 
qualities, accustomed them to habits, inculcated on 
them precepts and set them examples — the value 
whereof no amount of gold can equal. 



/CHILDREN and nations may be too much 
governed. The unskilful rider tugging un- 
necessarily at the bridle makes the horse balky. 

[ 40 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

YX7TTH ill-used children and oppressed nations, 
sense and sensibility are so often violated that 
they become blunted. 



A/TAKE of everything possible an instrument of 
education for your children, particularly of 
the objects that daily surround them at home. If 
a picture hangs on the wall, explain to them what it 
represents; if a book stands on the shelf, impart to 
them as much of its contents as is within the reach 
of their understanding; if you keep a domestic 
animal, teach them by precept and example to treat 
it tenderly; if you have a plant, instruct them to 
take as loving care of it as if it were a living being 
and would suffer from any unfriendly touch. Then 
the picture will give life to the dead wall, the book 
will make the mute shelf eloquent, and a soul will 
be breathed into animal and plant. Then the 
home will appear to your children a temple where 
altars are erected to art and learning, to affection, 
tenderness and poetry, and of which you, their 
parents, are the priests, adepts in all the sacred 
mysteries into which you gradually initiate them. 



HPHREE trees are planted near one another — two 
thrive, the third does not; two shine in the full 
glory of their foliage, the third has to content itself 
year after year with but a few leaves. The two are 
alert, talkative, gay; the third is quiet, silent, pensive 

[ 41 j 



MEDITATIONS 

When the least breeze arises, the two bow to each 
other and have a lively talk; the third stands soli- 
tary, motionless, unnoticed. Made supersensitive 
by misfortune and loneliness, the third sometimes 
imagines to overhear the two whispering suspi- 
ciously and to see them stealthily pointing at his 
thin, bare trunk. "They are exchanging slighting 
remarks about me," he thinks, and a shudder 
passes through his poor few leaves. 



COMETIMES the position a man is occupying in 
the world has as little to do with his own choice, 
as the place wherein a nail is driven has to do with 
the choice of the nail. Fate has put him there in the 
same manner as the hammer has lodged the nail — 
consulting him as much and treating him as gently. 



A S the guide leads the wayfarer up the mountains 
by the shortest, easiest, and most pleasant 
paths, so the teacher leads the pupil up the heights 
of knowledge. The guide carries not the wayfarer 
who is ready to climb the highest peaks; he only 
shows him the way. The teacher is not to carry but 
to guide the pupil, who must be willing to ascend 
the summits of knowledge on his own feet, following 
the footsteps of his teacher. 



[ 42 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



I 



N moments when inactivity is forced upon you, 
try to think. You will soon find that tedious- 
ness, depression, and impatience will change to a 
feeling of satisfaction, and time, that had been creep- 
ing snail-like, will make itself wings. Or are you 
in want of matter for reflection ? Can neither 
present, past, nor future feed your thoughts ? Can- 
not memory hold up to you a picture of the past 
pleasant to look at ? Cannot imagination fill the 
vacant future with brightness and beauty? Have 
you not, had you not a dear friend on whom your 
thoughts w T ould like to dwell ? Have you fathomed 
all the depths of your own being ? Are you satis- 
fied with the discoveries you have made there? 
And if not, how is the improvement to be brought 
about ? Have not human aspirations, has not nat- 
ure any problems deserving your consideration ? 



tJE who likes to commune with nature and sees 
the divine therein, likes also to commune with 
himself: to think — for in his own heart he finds 
again the wonders of nature and the revelation of 
God. 



"^JOT he who awakens in misery from the revelry 
of extravagance deserves our compassion, nor 
he who undergoes privation to protect himself from 
future wants; but he who has been born under such 
an unlucky star that without preceding dissipation 

[ 43 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

is always in actual need, and with all his privations 
sees only a disconsolate future before him. 



DARTIAL destiny gives to one the fruit of au- 
tumn without subjecting him to the labor and 
care preceding the harvest; to another the sweat and 
toil of summer without the deserved fruit. To one 
it gives the hope and joy, the blossoms and songs of 
spring; to another the cheerlessness and desolation 
of winter. 



A RANDOM sentence pronounced by the blind 
judge, Fate, sometimes decides our success 
or failure. 



nPHERE is no prosaic spot on earth. Every- 
where nature's wonderful workings keep the 
poetical mind in rapture; and wherever there are 
human beings . . . their aspirations after perfec- 
tion, their thoughts reaching up to the stars and 
encompassing eternity — contrasted with their ani- 
mal wants, their fate as mortals, their sorrows, cares, 
and failings — melt the poet's heart with emotion, 
fill it with pity, and exalt it with love and hope 



'"THERE is no reform without martyrdom — for 
the world improves reluctantly, and it strikes 
first at those who dare force it to become better. 

[ 44 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TT gives the wicked joy to hear and to tell what is 
to some one's discredit — for even the wicked 
know and feel that wickedness is degrading, and 
it is a satisfaction to them that some are as low or 
lower than they. It gives the good joy to hear and 
to tell what is to some one's credit — for all their life 
long they are battling for the good and right, and 
the more fellow-combatants they find, the more 
they rejoice. 



"PHERE are people who seem to be constantly 
afraid they may, perhaps, do for the world a 
trifle more than the world does for them — so ex- 
tremely saving are they with good deeds, afFable 
words, nay, even with friendly looks. They are 
excusable: being so poor in the affections of the 
heart, they must be particularly sparing in the use 
of them. 



/CRITICISM winnows the products of the mind, 
separating the chaff from the grain. 



BROTHERS and sisters, born in the same 
parental house, are often widely scattered, and 
their graves may, in the end, be far apart. Whether 
they should bodily remain together, is in God's 
hand; whether they should cleave unto one another 
in heart and thought, is in their own hand. 

[ 45 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

\X7"IT is like lightning: it flashes and it strikes, 
and flash and stroke are simultaneous. 



' I *HE nobleman, fondly tracing his ancestry 
several generations back, is proud of his 
descent; but every one who takes an interest in the 
history of his forefathers and feels proud of every 
generous trait in his family is stamped by nature 
as a nobleman. 



TTHE Holy Virgin with the Saviour Child has 
been a favorite subject of the old masters and 
the new; but any mother with her child is a grand 
subject for the greatest artist. 



T^HREE things are touching: an old couple keep- 
ing their love young; the poor helping the 
poorer; and aged parents as affectionately cared for 
by their children, as tender children are by their 
parents. 



TPHE foolish speak, laugh, and weep aloud and 
generally make much noise and bustle. They 
are so insignificant in the world's scheme that they 
instinctively fear their very existence might be un- 
known if they did not loudly proclaim it. 

[ 46 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

T_I UM AN folly is so great that, while every one is 
sure of loving himself, the conduct of many is 
such as to make us cry in our hearts when witnessing 
it: "Oh, be not so cruel to yourselves! do, have pity 
with yourselves!" 



TT is characteristic of the foolish to have absurdly 
wrong ideas of the relative greatness and im- 
portance of persons and things. Those ideas re- 
mind one of the drawings dating from a time when 
the rules of perspective were as yet unknown — 
where a man might look taller than a steeple and a 
horse larger than a house. 



VKTHEREVER folly grows, vanity, haughtiness, 
superstition, and prejudice spring up and 
wind around it. They are supported by it and feed 
on it: they are folly's parasites. 



V\/TTH w T hat courage and perseverance do men 
defend their strongholds against the attacks 
of the enemy! and yet, look at the intemperate: 
nature has fortified them against their enemy, in- 
temperance, by sense, decency, and the instinct of 
self-preservation — and, lo! they break down those 
defences with their own hands and rejoicingly re- 
ceive the enemy who weakens and destroys their 
body and mind. 

[ 47 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

CELF-CONTROL dams in the passions from 
overflowing their banks and becoming de- 
structive. 



HpHE cringing flatterer and the haughty tyrant 
have the same low nature, only their conditions 
differ. They belong to the same species as do the 
grovelling and the winged insects. 



U^VERY flatterer is a tyrant when it is in his 
power, and every tyrant is a flatterer when it is 
to his interest. 



END no ear to slander: how can you believe 
a slanderer ? 



*HE slanderer is a coward: he attacks the de- 
fenceless, the absent. 



TPIME, the most precious coin, cannot be saved 
or hoarded; it must be spent, and spent im- 
mediately, by all alike. Some, however, buy with 
it what is highest and noblest; others what is most 
frivolous or even most hurtful. 



[ 48 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

[ TSE time, your inseparable life-companion, well; 
esteem it, love it; then it will requite you by 
many blessings. But w T oe to you if you misuse it! 
for its vengeance is sure and terrible. 



TF we have more time than we know how to make 
use of, it sinks in value, like everything the 
supply of which exceeds the demand. We depre- 
ciate then our time, our life. 



"LJ E who knows not how to make use of his time 

is not a free man. Like a slave, he must be 

given employment, but cannot find any for himself. 



H 



T 



OW can he know the value of time who has 
never bought anything valuable with it? 



HE step of time is inaudible; but when we look 
at the destruction in its trail, we fancy to hear 
perpetually the heavy tramp of a hostile army 
marching through the land. 



9 I *0 kill time, to destroy part of our life, is suicidal. 
[ 49 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



M ( 



[ODERN industry, the offspring of modern 
science, while contributing to human happi- 
ness in some respects, is decidedly impairing it in 
a great many others. It enables a few to heap up 
untold riches, but reduces millions to extreme pov- 
erty; it creates a few powerful masters, but also 
a multitude of helpless slaves; it takes all the joy 
out of the work of the masses by connecting it with 
dependence, hurry, clatter, and machine-like ac- 
tivity; it favors the growth of great, overcrowded 
cities, where to the wretchedness of poverty is added 
the misery of close quarters, bad air, adulterated 
food, incessant noise, and undesirable neighbors; 
it leads mankind farther and farther away from 
nature and simplicity, and renders life more and 
more artificial and complicate. 



/^O to mother earth and let her nourish you. All 
the innocence of the child at its mother's 
breast may then be yours. Humanity is ailing, 
being unnaturally weaned from mother earth. 



^TO greater king than he whose mind commands 
the illimitable realm of thought; none richer 
than he through whose heart golden streams of 
noble feelings flow. 

C ACRED feelings may be desecrated by utter- 
ance. 

[ 50 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

"THE higher our thoughts and the deeper our 
feelings, the more susceptible we are of joy 
and pain. The philosopher and poet revels in de- 
lights and suffers pangs of which the superficial 
and prosaic have no conception. 



COLITUDE is the school of thought. 



"PHE highest enjoyment of the thoughtful con- 
sists in concentration of the mind, not in 
diversion. 



A S provident nature has given to birds particu- 
larly sensitive to inclement weather the instinct 
of flying to milder climes — so beneficent Providence 
has endowed delicate natures suffering most from 
the hardships of life with the glorious capacity of 
rising on the wings of thought and fancy to blissful, 
higher regions, far away from the miseries of the 
earth. 



TF, when the child stumbles and falls, you rush to 
its assistance, take it up in your arms, kiss it 
and soothe it — you trample on the tender germs 
of reason which nature has planted in the child's 
breast for gradual development. You are not to 

[ 5i ] 



MEDITATIONS 

blame for the child's fall; still you act as if you 
were. Is the child to find that the consequence 
of being imprudent is to be fondled and kissed and 
soothed, or is it to discover that fright and hurt 
might follow imprudence, and learn to be more 
careful in future? 



r\ISFIGURE not the words when speaking to the 

little child : it will learn the right word with no 

more difficulty than the wrong; let not your talk 

to it be absurd or illogical: why should you hurry 

to plant the seed of irrationality in the child's mind ? 



ClOME strive for a higher education from low 
motives. Like the vulture, they want to rise 
high, so as to survey a vaster space where spoil may 
be found. 



A GOOD part of the child's destiny is fore- 
shadowed in its parents — for health and 
strength, capacities and inclinations come down to 
us largely by heredity and develop mostly accord- 
ing to home influence and home education. 



HpHE teacher learns while teaching, and the 
parents' education improves while educating 
their children. 

[ 52 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

t-JOWEVER little a teacher may succeed in 
teaching, he himself is sure to learn a great 
deal. 



T7ICE feeds largely on folly, and folly on igno- 
rance; by overcoming ignorance, education 
cuts off the supplies of both folly and vice. 



ET not the child sink to the level of being your 
plaything, or an object for being exhibited to 
your friends — its self-respect and the respect it has 
for you will be impaired by it. The child has not 
been entrusted to your care to amuse you or to 
satisfy your vanity; it has higher claims on you. 



HPAKE heed not to let children see that you are 
annoyed by their naughtiness. All human 
beings like power, even children do, and if they 
notice that they have the power to annoy you, they 
will be tempted to wield it. 



TPHE man of head and heart is a kind of spiritual 
doctor to whom people naturally bring their 
complaints, describe their sufferings, pour out their 
hearts, and from whom they expect counsel and 
consolation. They know that his mind under- 

[ 53 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

stands them, his heart feels with them, and that, 
while helping them carry their burdens, he will lay 
none of his own on their shoulders; that, like a 
physician, he is ready and able to soothe their suf- 
ferings, but does not expect them to alleviate his. 



T^HE reflection of the world in an impure heart 
and uneasy mind is dim and distorted, like 
the reflection of the banks in a turbulent river — 
while the world is mirrored in all its beauty in a 
pure heart and tranquil mind, as is the beautiful 
shore in the clear, calm lake. 



MOT what we eat, but what we digest nourishes 
the body. Not what we read, but what we 
learn nourishes the mind. 



"\X7E easily see the foibles of the great — for where 
there is much light, the smallest speck is 
discernible. 



' I S RULY great men learn most of themselves and 
the book of nature. 



HPHE poet has a particular prayer: "I thank 
Thee, O Lord, for Thy inspiration. " 

[ 54 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



' I V HE philosopher and poet, a Prometheus, as- 
cends to heaven on the wings of thought and 
fancy, and brings down divine light to man. 



'"THE poet and philosopher rambles through 
nature's beautiful scenes, as the bee flies 
through the flowery fields. He is attracted by the 
blossoms, revels in their cups, and returns home 
laden with sweets. 



T^HE better we are, the more peace and cheer- 
fulness is in our heart; the wiser we are, the 
clearer and more exulting in activity is our mind; 
the more temperate we are, the less trouble our 
body gives us; the fewer our wants, the greater our 
independence. 



w 



r E are surrounded by enemies — our passions 
assail us from within and the world's tempta- 
tions from without. The battle is fierce, our defeats 
are frequent. Woe to the warrior who returns not 
to the charge again and again! who endureth not 
until the victory is his! 



p*VERY sin is a cowardly blow struck by the 
selfish present at the defenceless future. 



[ 55 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



/^UARD your heart carefully — for the least evil 
stealing into it may traitorously open the gates 
to a whole host of evils. 



HpHEREIN lies a great reward of virtue and a 
heavy punishment of vice that every good or 
bad habit, every good or bad action is apt to be 
followed by a train of others like it. 



' I *HE combat in which our virtue is engaged 
against external foes, against adversity and 
temptation, is not so perilous as that against its 
internal enemies, the evil propensities in our own 
heart — just as a foreign invasion is less disastrous 
than a civil war. 



^O be wicked is to be unreasonable — for we 
cannot be happy without being good. 



HPHE virtues of some show best on the golden 
ground of fortune; those of others on the dark 
ground of misfortune. 



W/'E see powerful frames shattered prematurely, 

and delicately constituted people whose days 

are long upon the earth. We see vouth inviting 

[ 56 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

the infirmities of old age by folly and vice, and old 
age keeping the vigor of youth from departing by 
prudence and temperance. 



' I *HE same thing may be beneficial or harmful 
according to its degree of intensity. The wind 
may be a refreshing breeze or a destroying tempest, 
and a virtue carried to excess becomes a vice. 



TPHE close thinker makes all the rays of his 
thoughts converge and lets that concentrated 
light fall on the point to be considered. 



C*EW can climb the highest pinnacles of abstract 
thought; the most become dizzy after reaching 
but a moderate height. 



TN some heads metaphysical philosophy degener- 
ates into a kind of all-wise craziness. 



''THINKING is digging for gold in the mine 
of the intellect. The empty-headed, having 
nothing to look for within themselves, are not in- 
clined to reflection. 

[ 57 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TX7E might speak of six senses and call the sixth 
thinking. In each of the five, man is sur- 
passed by many other living beings; but in the sixth 
he is far superior to them all — and this superiority 
alone sufficed to make him master of the world. 



TF steam is allowed to scatter in all directions, its 
force is unnoticeable; but, if confined within 
certain limits and compelled to move in one direc- 
tion, its power may produce wonderful efFects. 
There is the same difference between rambling 
and concentrated thinking. 



T ET not your thoughts rest on petty things: life 

is too short and time too precious to give a 

moment's thought to trivial matters. Let not your 

thoughts rest on mean people: the mind is too noble 

a dwelling to be occupied by low tenants. 



TF your lot is cast among the unrefined, take heed 
that your finer feelings perish not by being ex- 
posed to derision. Shelter them in your heart and 
tend them carefully, as you would shelter tender 
plants from the rough air. 



[ 58 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

COME will not check wild passion until it hurls 
them into a precipice; some have the strength, 
the skill, or the good luck to rein it in on the very 
brink — and the sight of the abyss they have escaped 
will impress itself forever on their memory and be 
a caution and a warning. 



IFE'S enjoyments crowded by passion cheer no 
more, but harm — as the rays of the sun made 
to converge by the burning-glass warm no more, 
but burn. 



^HE intemperate make of their bodies alternately 
a feasting-hall and a sick-chamber. 



HpREAT eating, drinking, and sleeping as neces- 
sities, not enjoyments, and you will enjoy them 
all three. 



'^JOT until man had subdued the wild beasts 
could he be master of the earth. Not until 
man has overcome his wild passions can be be 
master of himself. 



, \7IRTUE is exercised and strengthened by having 
continually to ward off the attacks of outward 
temptations and inward passions. 

[ 59 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

' I A HE repentant are forgiven by God and may be 
forgiven by men; the consciousness, however, 
that they can only do better in the future, but not 
remedy all the consequences of the wrong done — 
makes them endeavor to balance the irremediable 
wrong by extraordinary virtues and uncommon 
good deeds, and has sometimes made saints of 
sinners. 



INTELLECT, if not joined with character, cannot 
guide us through stormy life. Intellect is, in- 
deed, a light unto our path; but a light exposed to 
the wind flickers or is extinguished. It is character 
that screens the light of intellect. 



TLJ E who is conscious of having done an irreparable 
wrong feels like one suffering from an incurable 
disease. 



V ER 



Y few people put an end to their life, but a 
great many shorten it. 



T7TRTUE and vice are very prolific and, accord- 
ing to the law of nature, they bring forth 
children of their kind. 



[ 60] 



MEDITATIONS 

T/ r IRTUE and wisdom look grave; but it is the 
gravity of angels' faces— which still enhances 
their beauty. 



TT is a fatal error to think that virtue, the source 
of our purest joys, has its reward only in the 
hereafter — and that vice, the cause of our greatest 
misery, finds its punishment only in the world to 
come. 



' I *HE wicked are insane people that strike at 
themselves. 



WICKED life is slow suicide. 



A/TENTAL keen-sightedness which enables us to 
see the right path, and moral fortitude which 
makes us walk in the right path — are, unfortu- 
nately, not always united. 



HpHE heart influences the mind; the mind reacts 
on the heart. Whoever is good cannot be 
entirely unreasonable; whoever is unreasonable 
cannot be entirely good. 



[ 61 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

COME minds become torpid in the gloom of mis- 
fortune, while the bright light of fortune arouses 
them — just as the darkness of night lulls us to sleep, 
while daylight awakens us. 



T^HE body is a temple wherein the Holy Spirit, 
the soul, dwelleth. Profane it not by neglect, 
by intemperance. 



HpHE ardent desire of those who are rich in mind 
to enrich themselves still more, is as absorbing 
as the craving of the rich for more gold. 



ET not your judgment be biased by your feel- 
ings. That you wish a thing were true is no 
proof that it is true; that you like a thing is no proof 
that it is right; that you love people is no proof that 
they are not wrong or to blame. 



ILIAD the poor more head and the rich more heart, 
most social problems would be solved. 



HPHE rich dissipate and think not of the poor; 
the poor murmur and think too much of the 
rich. 

[ 62 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

/~\Fwhat use would it be to divide all possessions 
equally among men ? Nature's unequal dis- 
tribution of qualities and capacities would soon 
remove the landmarks again. 



INEQUALITY among men will ever continue — 
for we can give, indeed, the same rights to all; 
but not the same qualities, nor the same destiny. 
Humanity's sense of right may do its utmost to 
defend the weak against the strong; but it cannot 
remedy the partiality of nature and destiny that 
makes some strong and some weak. 



nPHAT riches are computed by gold, by some- 
thing dispensable, gives the right idea of riches 
themselves, which are as dispensable to human 
happiness. 



TF you have been wronged, if a wave of the sea 
of wrong has struck against you, let it not flow 
on by returning evil for evil; but, by forgiving and 
returning good for evil, build a dike against it, so 
that it spread not from you onward. 



PHE ancients had, perhaps, too few books; we 
have decidedly too many. 

[ 6 3 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

' I 5 HE combat with ourselves is the longest, fiercest, 
and most momentous of our lives — and the 
victory of the good over the evil in us is the most 
glorious we can ever achieve. 



HpHE great men of all ages have recognized, 
spoken or written the principal truths — but 
the forms of thought and manners of expression are 
so manifold that the sayings and writings of each 
bear the stamp of freshness and originality. 



HpHE ancient writers make us think: what 
knowledge in an age when books were so 
scarce! Some modern writers make us think: 
what ignorance in an age when books are so 
abundant! 



T^O read what is worthless is to use the key, 
which might unlock the treasure-house of lit- 
erature, for opening empty rooms. 



HPO be constantly engrossed in acquiring knowl- 
edge without ever imparting any, is like hoard- 
ing riches without ever giving the smallest part 
of it. 

[ 6 4 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

COMETIMES fate destroys in a moment what 
it had taken us years of persevering industry 
to accomplish — but that proves not the uselessness 
of industry and perseverance; it only demonstrates 
the pitilessness of fate. 



^TOT only others judge us by our success or 
failure; we ourselves are inclined to have a 
higher or lower opinion of our virtues and capacities 
according to the rise and fall of our fortune. 



A DVERSITY is as good an agent in promoting 
good as prosperity. If the sun of prosperity 
favors the development of some virtues, the clouds 
of adversity make other virtues grow, while its 
storms uproot many a defect. If prosperity en- 
ables us to be bountiful, adversity increases our 
helpfulness by rendering us sympathetic, com- 
passionate, self-sacrificing. 



QVERINDULGENCE may harm the child just 
as much as ill-treatment — and being too much 
favored by fortune may harm a man just as much 
as being ill-used by misfortune. 



[ 65 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

'\X7HEN our fortune, which we had never ap- 
preciated, is shattered, we value what we 
have saved from the wreck; when our health is 
weakened by age and shaken by disease, we begin 
taking care of it; when the best part of our life is 
spent, we become inclined to make good use of our 
time. 



V\/^ALK with understanding through the fields 

of life. Learn to find the beautiful flowers 

and to distinguish the useful plants from the hurtful. 



TREASON, like our eye-sight, has been given us 
that we might see our way through life. Not 
to be guided by our own reason, but solely by the 
precepts of others, living or dead, is to close our 
eyes deliberately and to be led about like the 
blind. 



TZ'EEP your body healthy, your heart pure, your 
mind clear, your disposition sweet. The sick 
body, the troubled conscience, the muddled brain, 
the bad temper — how teeming they are with suffer- 
ing and degradation! 



HpHE most cruel are those who find pleasure in 
cruelty. 

[ 66 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

{CONSIDER not the smallest creature unworthy 
of thy mercy. Dost thou not ask mercy of 
God, and art thou of greater importance compared 
to Him than the smallest creature is compared 
to thee? 



TF we can make others suffer without suffering 
by it ourselves, we must be cruel; if we can make 
others suffer although we suffer by it ourselves, 
we must be foolish. 



S the finest colors are blended in light, so the 
most tender feelings are united in love. 



A/TANY would get lost in the labyrinth of life 
if a loving hand held not the thread which 
enables them to find their way in the maze. 



TN ancient times the readers of books were very 
few, but they constituted the very best part of 
the people. The books were like the readers : very 
few and of the very best. In modern times the 
readers of books comprise nearly all the people. 
The books are like the readers: very many and 
mostly very ordinary. 



[ 6 7 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TPHE history of our own country cannot be 
properly understood if detached from universal 
history; our own language cannot be thoroughly 
learned if not compared with other languages. 



T^HE stream of human knowledge constantly 
receives new tributaries — and we see it flowing 
through the ages, ever increasing in width and 
majesty. 



'^JONE but thinking people can know a language 
fully — for words are merely the servants of 
thoughts, and the poorer a man is in thoughts the 
fewer words he employs, and his language is only 
a very small part of the language. 



, \X7 r E thoughtlessly allow envy and hate to enter 
our heart — and soon peace, contentment, and 
happiness, ever fleeing such companionship, depart 
thence. 



CELFISHNESS is comprehensible — for poor, 
erring man may imagine that selfishness is to 
his advantage; but envy is incomprehensible, a 
diabolical element in the human heart. 



[ 68 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

"LJE who speaks ill of another considers not that 
people may doubt his slanderous tale, but 
cannot doubt his being a slanderer. 



T^HE envious Gnomes first refused to man all- 
useful iron. Then their king said: "Let those 
beings have it. They abuse everything; they will 
also abuse this precious gift." Men were then 
allowed to bring iron up to light and, before long, 
they made weapons thereof and raised them 
murderously against each other. The malicious 
Gnomes have had cause for rejoicing ever since. 



T^HE readiness to laugh at people, to mock and 
sneer is as surely the symptom of a morally 
diseased heart, as certain weaknesses are the sure 
symptoms of a physically diseased heart — and a 
disease of the heart, moral as well as physical, is 
vital. 



TF we mortify a heart, we mortify two; the second 
is our own. If we gladden a heart, we gladden 
two; the second is our own. 



CTUPIDITY, malice, and anger disfigure the 
most beautiful features; a bright mind, a kind 
heart, and a sweet disposition transfigure the plain- 
est face. 

[ 6 9 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

ncipal laws governing the 
attraction of gravitation and attraction of love. 



HPHE principal laws governing the world are 



AS matter contracts by cold and expands by 
warmth, so the heart contracts by coldness and 
expands by the warmth of love. 



M 



R 1 



AY God grant us to be loved in childhood, to 
love in manhood, and to be loveable in old age. 



ICHES, position, and power exempt us from 
many ordinary troubles, but burden us with a 
multitude of extraordinary cares; make many de- 
pendent upon us, but give no independence to 
ourselves; attract the attention of others to our 
external life, but call our own attention away from 
our internal life; make us great lords, but also the 
slaves of ambition and greed. 



ILIEALTH in body and soul, inward peace, 
delight in nature, love to mankind, thirst for 
knowledge, enthusiasm for all that is good and 
beautiful, an absorbing interest in the progress of 
the world — are the great treasures the possession 
of which makes us surpassingly rich, however 
humble our lot on earth may be. 

1 70 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

HPHE frivolous heart when touched by the flame 
of love is, like dry straw that catches fire, 
quickly in a blaze which soon dies out. In the 
faithful heart love burns like the eternal light in a 
sanctuary. 



TLJOW many great and noble minds, that might 
have brought forth the finest blossoms, the 
most delicious fruit to the delight and good of 
humanity, have, through want, pined away before 
their time. Like a vine without stay or support, 
they trailed along in the dust and died — never ar- 
riving at maturity. 



' I ^O teach, to cast seed in young minds and hearts 
which in time may yield a golden harvest of 
innumerable blessings to mankind — what an ex- 
alted calling! 



SPHERE is no happiness without inward peace; 
there is no inward peace unless the good pre- 
vails in our heart. 



"DEHOLD the happiness of children and consider 
that the sun of life, rising so gloriously, would 
delight us with its bright light and genial warmth 
even to its going down, if our passions clouded 
it not. 

[ 71 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TF we had just balances to weigh the happiness 
of one against that of another, we should find 
to our great surprise that fortune has distributed 
her gifts among men much less unequally than we 
imagine. 



LJUMAN happiness lies within certain bounds. 
In his wild chase after happiness, however, 
man often overleaps those bounds — and while im- 
agining to be still in pursuit of happiness, he is 
getting farther and farther away from it. 



TL-JAPPINESS is a beautiful mosaic composed of 
the tiny particles of pure enjoyment which we 
pick up all along our path of life. 



TPEASING has an element of cruelty and is 
productive of harmful excitement. Never 
tease your children, never allow others to tease 
them, nor allow them to tease other children. 



l^RUIT trees bear fruit even if left to themselves; 
but the finest fruit is gained by careful cultiva- 
tion. Uneducated children may grow up to be 
good men; but the noblest men, as a rule, have 
had a careful education. 

[ 72 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

J) RAISE not children for their good looks, clever- 
ness, or mental gifts: that is not their merit. 
Praise them for industry and obedience and for 
any good quality that requires painstaking and self- 
control. 



TF there were not so many ill-bred parents, there 
would be fewer ill-bred children. 



DRAISE not your children in the presence of 
people; it might make them vain. Their love 
and respect for you must be so great that your 
approving words or looks, even if unheard and 
unseen by any one else, are to them the highest 
reward. 



A/TAMMON is demolishing the temples and sub- 
verting the statues of all the other gods — 
ruling more and more supreme and absolute. On 
the altars erected of old, to proud descent, to pro- 
found learning, to true piety, to venerable old age 
— less and less incense is being burned. Nobility 
is bought and sold; learning is hired; piety and old 
age are slighted and scorned, while humanity lies 
prostrate before Mammon's heartless and brainless 
golden image. 



/"OUTWARD possessions suffice those who are 
inwardly poor. 

[ 73 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

U*NVYING the rich is to a great extent the cause 
of the dissatisfaction of the poor; but let the 
poor consider that the rich are as much dissatisfied, 
and from the same cause: envying those who are 
richer. 



HpHE whole world belongs to him who delights 
in nature and loves humanity; who feels that 
nature's scenes and performances, that humanity's 
conditions and doings form an integrant part of 
his interest in life. Poor is the man who only has 
what he owns. 



COME authors reap a rich harvest from their 
writings; but where they have sown, posterity 
will find no fruit. Some reap nothing themselves; 
but the seed they have cast brings forth blossoms 
and fruit which will delight and nourish all genera- 
tions to come. 



\7[7HAT astonishing exploits man has achieved! 
What miracles he is working every day! The 
lightning is his messenger, his torch; the sun his 
painter, steam his beast of burden. He rises high 
in the air, dives to the bottom of the sea, pierces 
through rocky mountains. He takes fleeting sound 
captive, causes water to take an upward course, 
and peers into worlds millions of miles away. 

[ 74 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

AS nature is forever reproducing the human 
species, and yet no two individuals are ever 
alike — so the human genius is forever creating, and 
every production bears its own original stamp. 



A NOBLE thought beautifully expressed is like 
a precious stone set in gold. 



A BOOK, like a dish, may consist of the best in- 
gredients, and yet be unpalatable. 



nPHE teacher is to render learning easier for his 
pupils by able guidance, and the pupil is to 
facilitate teaching by his ready following; the parents 
are to prepare the child's way at school by careful 
training at home, and the teacher is to make the 
path of home-education smoother by inculcating 
the best principles in his pupils besides imparting 
knowledge to them. It is the close union of parents, 
teachers, and pupils that makes education complete. 



"THE young are best instructed and most in- 
fluenced by people of inexhaustible patience 
and invariable equanimity and kindness, that is, 
by the strong in mind and character. The soft 
material of youth is moulded by the strong hand as 
clay is by the potter. 

[ 75 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A BOOK is rendered immortal by the felicitous 
blending therein of the good, true, and 
beautiful. 



' I *HE precepts of the wise and the examples of 
the good contribute largely to the education 
of mankind. 



\Xf HAT the world calls education is generally 

only training. Training certainly makes us 

more clever; but education should make us nobler. 



{~\UR schools only equip youth for the battle of 
life; they are rather useful institutions than 
educational establishments. 



T ET the child grow up in quiet. Excite it not by 
exhibiting it, by making a plaything of it, by 
teasing it, by straining its physical strength or men- 
tal capacities. Like a young plant not yet firmly 
rooted, it will not bear violent shaking. 



ET the child have as few and plain clothes, as 

few and plain playthings as possible. Let it 

begin early to find happiness in appreciating the 

little it has, rather than in the revelry of profusion 

which soon ends in satiety. 

[ 76 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TF your child, incapable of pronouncing a word, 
mutilates it — use not this mutilated form of the 
word yourself in speaking to it; if your child is 
domineering, never allow it to dictate to you. 
The child learns everything by imitating its elders 
and by following their directions. If you imitate 
the child or do its bidding, you subvert its natural 
course of study and interrupt its mental develop- 
ment. 



YX7ITH children of good parts and good breed- 
ing the teacher's task is easy: the soil is 
fertile and prepared; all he has to do is to strew 
the good seed. 



A S the stairs take you up to the highest part of a 
building, so daily progress will lead you, step 
by step, to the summits of knowledge. 



'"PHE children of the ignorant poor are hampered 
in their education by their parents' ignorance, 
but furthered by their poverty, which teaches them 
early many a grand lesson for life. The children 
of the educated rich have the advantage of being 
brought up by accomplished parents, but they 
seldom escape effeminacy and arrogance, the twin 
children of luxury attendant on riches. The children 
of the ignorant rich suffer both from their parents' 
want of education and from the evil effects which 

[ 77 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

riches coupled with ignorance always have. The 
children of the educated poor have the double ad- 
vantage of being brought up by refined parents and 
schooled by the strict master, poverty. It is from 
among these that most great men come. 



TV/TAN may be born mentally crippled and the 
germs of evil may preponderate in his nature, 
mostly, however, the warped mind and the per- 
verted heart are the results of a wrong education. 



D ATHE your eyes in the sweet sunlight; turn your 
thoughts on what is best, highest, and most 
beautiful; fill your heart with contentment and joy 
in life, with the feelings of kindness and love; let 
the beautiful world be reflected in your clear mind 
and pure heart, and let your inward light of cheer- 
fulness and happiness unite with the outward light 
— rendering the world all the brighter. 



; I *HE more dissatisfied we are, the more cause 
we will have for dissatisfaction — while the 
causes for contentment increase with the growth 
of our content. 



T^ISCONTENT and care are ungodly — for they 
mean dissatisfaction with the way Providence 
treats us and lack of faith concerning our future. 

[ 78 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

^\UR lot can in no way fall below our merit- 
for God can never be our debtor. 



IKE the foaming waves of the sea against the 
rocky coast — discontent, impatience, and anger 
dash again and again, and ever in vain, against the 
barriers drawn by nature and circumstances. 



/^MVE to the supplicant what you can, even if you 
are not sure of his being really in want of help 
and worthy of it. Rather run the risk of giving 
to the undeserving than of not giving to the de- 
serving. 

'TPHE greatest harm your enemy can do you is to 
provoke you to revenge. 



T5EVENGE may taste like a dainty morsel, but 
we soon become aware that it contained 
poison. 



W 



H ] 



HAT exasperates the revengeful is not the 
wrong done, but the wrong done to them. 



E who can forgive is worthy of love. Our 
love to God is so great, because His forgive- 
ness is boundless. 

[ 79 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

INGRATITUDE is incompatible with religion — 
for he who is ungrateful to man is not likely to 
be thankful to God. 



TV/T UTUAL affection and respect, mutual under- 
standing and confidence, a common striving 
for the good and the true — are the foundations of 
friendship. 



'lyl/'HAT agriculture is to the soil, education is to 
man. If all land were under cultivation, 
what profusion of produce the earth would yield! 
If all mankind were educated, what abundance of 
fruit the human mind would bear! 



TX7HAT polishing is to the rough diamond and 
sculpture to the marble block, education is to 
human nature. 



nPHERE are divine sparks in every human being 
which education may call forth — as steel 
elicits the sparks hidden in the flint. 



A S the church is fitted for teaching the doctrines 

of the particular confession it represents, so 

the school, free from sectarian shackles, is fitted for 

teaching the universal religion embracing mankind, 

[ so ] 



M EDITATIONS 

the religion enjoining purity, truthfulness, justice, 
and brotherly love. 



/ T*HE school-house door is the main entrance to 
knowledge and power, to greatness and honor, 



to fame and immortality. 



T^^E teach youth earnestly and studiously the 
absolute and relative value of numbers, but 
we do not call their attention enough to the absolute 
and relative value of men and things, allowing them 
to grow up with many false notions in their views 
of the world: to look down, perhaps, on the noblest 
as of little worth, and to look up to the mean as 
paragons; to think lightly, maybe, of the weightiest 
matters, and to attach the greatest importance to 
trivialities. 



TLJABIT wields such power that many in whom 
evil inclinations prevail lead, nevertheless, a 
useful life, owing to the habits a good education 
has given them. 



H 



[ABIT is to the mind what inertia is to matter: 
good or bad, it continues until opposed by a 
greater force. 



[ 81 ] 



MEDITATIONS 
UABIT insinuates itself wedge-like into our 

notnrp 



nature. 



O' 



)UR dearest memories cling to our school days, 
to that happy time when mind and body are 
vying with each other in their rapid growth; when 
parents and teachers are vying with one another 
in their endeavors to do most for our future; when 
our head is free from care and our heart is without 
guile; when the enjoyment of the present is full, 
and the vast future is all glittering in the golden 
light of hope. 



jD RING up your child in the light of reason and 
the warmth of love, and it will, like a flower in 
the sunshine, develop best and most naturally. 



VT'OU can easily correct children when they are 
convinced of your love to them; when they feel 
that you desire not to find fault, to rebuke, but to 
unite your strength to theirs and conjointly with 
them combat their faults. 



TF your children see and feel that you love them 
and that you hate whatever is bad, they cannot 
but strive to be good. 

[ 82 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

T5E not over-ready to amuse the child, to give it 
your time, your company. Accustom it to have 
recourse to its own resources how to while away the 
time. This will cast in the child's mind the seed 
of independent thinking and of self-reliance. 



13 E not over-ready to assist the child, nor thrust 
your guidance on it; give it time to become 
fully aware of its helplessness and need of a guide, 
and then let it apply to you for help and guidance, 
as the weak do to the strong, as those who know 
not the way apply to them who do. Let no occasion 
pass to make the child conscious of its need of you, 
and it will be easily guided. 



AS the church is holy because it is the house of 

God, so every place is sacred where goodness 

or wisdom, the highest attributes of God, have 

taken up their abode. An institution of benevolence 

and a seat of learning are both sacred. 



JMMEDIATELY after the committal of a fault 
is the least propitious time for reprimand. Any 
wrong-doing is attended with a feeling of humilia- 
tion, of dissatisfaction with oneself — and if you have 
the generosity not to speak of the fault just then, 
not to humiliate still more, but, on the contrary, 

[ 8 3 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

to redouble your kindness, to extend your sympathy 
more than ever — then he who has committed the 
fault will feel thankful and be ready to listen to 
your exhortations at a more opportune time. 



HPO have to drag one who is unwilling to go is but 
a slight exertion compared with the toil of 
having to teach one who is unwilling to learn. 



TPEACH children justice and duty, which are 
based on reason and form the mind; teach 
them generosity and self-denial, which are dictated 
by the feelings and form the heart. 



P 



EOPLE'S social talents are best demonstrated 
by the quality they possess of diffusing cheer- 
fulness in society. 



TPO speak indistinctly, to write illegibly, is an 
impoliteness. It betokens self-indulgence with- 
out regard to others. 



'NJj'EVER complain — for whether your complaint 
be of ill health, the vexations of your calling, 
hard times, the cruelty of fate, or the baseness of 
men, it will be ascribed to some fault of your own. 

[ 8 4 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

PRACTISE virtue and enjoy happiness, but 
speak little of either. 



nPHE habit of speaking ill of people, like many 
other bad habits, is often born of folly and 
vanity. The foolish and vain make use of the bit- 
ing, sharp, and bitter quality of malice to season 
their insipid talk. 



CLANDERING is wicked; but listening to 
slander, believing it and passing it on is no less 
wicked. We must oppose it; not assist it with ear, 
heart, or mouth. 



PEOPLE determine the value of men as they 
do that of numbers — by their position. 



D ACIAL, national, sectarian, political prejudices 
are generally mutual; those we are prejudiced 
against are, as a rule, as much prejudiced against 
us. If the prejudices of the stronger against the 
weaker party are alone taken notice of by the world, 
it is not because they have a better foundation, but 
because, being supported by power, they are so 
much more harmful. Let the prejudiced strong 
bear that in mind! 

[ 8 5 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

P*HAT other people are not like yourself, that 

other nations are not like your own, is no 

better reason for you to be prejudiced against them 

than for them to be prejudiced against you and your 

nation. 



/~\UR selfishness is so great that we find an excuse 
for almost any wrong we commit, and our 
conceit is so great that we discover a reason for 
congratulating ourselves on some merit, however 
undeserving we may be. 



PRIVILEGES are gradually disappearing and 
the rights of all are being established; but 
nature and chance will always keep up inequality 
among men by differently shaping them and their 
destinies. Education is becoming more and more 
general; but all the efforts of the schools are solely 
exerted to disseminate practical knowledge, not to 
propagate noble sentiments. Every one can now 
enter the lists of competition and every one's ambi- 
tion is roused to activity; but modern aspirations 
chiefly aim at riches and display, and even the 
highest pursuits are only followed for their reward 
in gold. Ingenious machinery is producing with 
ease and rapidity immense quantities of necessities 
and luxuries, and the means of communication are 
multiplied and facilitated; but life is becoming 
more and more agitated, complicated, artificial — 
[ 86 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

and thus less and less accessible to happiness which 
loves quiet, simplicity, and naturalness. 



PREJUDICE is groundless: it is a noxious plant 
that needs no soil to grow in; it thrives with its 
roots in the air. 



V^/'E must be above worldly cares; we must stand 
so high that the clouds of care sail under us. 



OVE, planted by nature in our heart, bears the 
most delicious fruit of happiness. 



A NGER is attended with lack of power — for if 

we had the power to alter what displeases us, 

we should have no occasion to be angry. It is 

this chafing impotence that renders anger ridiculous. 



p*VEN when all sources feeding hope seem to be 
sealed, despair not. Many a river-bed in the 
torrid zone appears dry in the height of summer; 
yet, ere long, the waters will rush into it again. 



TT would not do to analyze a soldier's courage, 
to ask how much of it is owing to strong nerves, 

[ 87 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

to a good digestion, to love of fight or adventure, 
to worldly ambition — and how little of it to patriot- 
ism, to enthusiasm for the good cause. Let us 
rather be thankful to Providence that there are 
men to fight humanity's battles against wrong, 
oppression, and barbarity, and honor the men who 
are instrumental in conquering evil and making 
the good triumphant. 



r^ OUR AGE alone makes not a hero, but courage 
in a good cause. Satan is as courageous in the 



combat as the archangel. 



(^HEERFULNESS is the bright-colored banner 
which the brave never strike in the battle of 
life. Destiny may bafHe their hopes, thwart their 
plans, and destroy what they had built up, but it 
cannot make them lose courage and lower their 
banner in surrender. 



A S, by the invention of glass, man succeeded in 
obtaining a substance that, while letting in the 
daylight into the house, keeps out the wind, rain, 
and snow, so by discovering and applying the 
right philosophy of life man may succeed in ad- 
mitting all the sunshine into his heart and shut- 
ting out all the storms. 



[ 88 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A S the tiller of the soil in the fall of the year, 
after having plowed, sown, and harvested, 
after all the toil and care, hopes fulfilled and frus- 
trated, takes a deep breath of relief looking forward 
to the repose of winter, so we take a deep breath 
of relief in the late autumn of life, after all our 
striving and struggling, wishing and longing, our 
victories and defeats — looking gladly forward to 
the quiet of coming old age, to the quiet gradually 
merging into eternal rest. 



V^HEN happening to read in advanced age 
what we have written long, long ago in the 
days of our youth, a strange feeling comes over us. 
We hear our own voice out of the silent past, but 
we recognize it no more. "Is it possible," we ask 
ourselves, "that we have written this! that we have 
expressed these views!" Involuntarily we make a 
comparison between our present and our former 
self, and, all of a sudden, the writing appears to be 
a kind of letter written by us to ourselves, by our 
youth to our advanced age, asking us sternly, "In 
whose favor results the comparison ? and, if in 
favor of our present self, is the progress in propor- 
tion to the length of the interval ? " 



nPHE poor exile! there are warm hearts beating 

for him, but they are so far away. He feels 

like one enveloped in darkness looking up to the 

[ 8 9 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

host of glittering stars — all too far away to give him 
light. 



\X7"HEN winter covers the earth with snow, the 
poor birds who rather starve than emigrate 
are badly off. Then the good housewife, knowing 
what love of home is, strews crumbs on the window- 
sill for the martyrs of love-of-home — who come and 
appease their hunger thankfully. 



HpHE throes of birth are not the sharpest pain 
that children give their mothers. 



' I A HE closeness of their particles makes rocks and 
metals firm; the close attachment of their mem- 
bers makes the state and the family strong. 



pEOPLE of one country, of one family, of one 

religion are by far not so closely related as 

people of like sentiments, like mind, like character. 



rj^VEN if the home of the first man and woman 
had been no paradise, they would have felt 
their banishment from it just as painfully. 

[ 90 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

/^\UR fatherland is the dearest land to us, even 
though the world may offer freer, more en- 
lightened and more beautiful countries. We love 
our country — and love is not the result of reasoning, 
but an absorbing, indisputable feeling. 



TT is a recommendation to descend from a good 
family, just as it recommends goods to come 
from a renowned house; those who are judges, 
however, will value goods according to quality and 
men according to character and capacities. 



TT is good to live in a country blessed with sun- 
shine and beauty; it is better still to have a home 
blessed with love and cheerfulness. 



' I ^O be free and to continue free, a people must be 
capable of self-government and an individual 
of self-control. 



\4"EN will call themselves free even though con- 
fined, maybe, in the dark dungeon of igno- 
rance, bound with the fetters of vice and lashed by 
their passions. Does freedom merely imply not 
being the slave of another ? 



[ 9i ] 



MEDITATIONS 

T IBERTY brings up free sons; despotism rears 
low slaves. Liberty can count on her children's 
love; despotism may be sure of the slaves' ill-con- 
cealed hate. 



TpHE despot of a down-trodden people is but an 
extensive slaveholder; the head of a free nation 
is like the beloved father of a numerous family. 



A S frost turns flowing water into inert ice, so does 

the icy breath of despotism check the course 

of human activity — and as genial warmth makes 

the ice-bound river flow, so does the sun of liberty 

set all the energies of the people in motion. 



T F a tree is transplanted, and be it with the greatest 
care, some fibres will be hurt: thus it fares with 
man when exiled from his native land. 



A FREE government puts under no restriction 
either tongue or pen — for from its friend, 
truth, it can only hear merited praise or just blame, 
good advice and wise precepts, and against its 
enemy, falsehood, it is ever ready to enter the lists. 
A despotic government allows neither freedom of 
speech nor press — for it cannot trust its friend, 
falsehood, and with its mortal enemy, truth, it 
avoids any contest. 

[ 92 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

ET us not confine our love for liberty to outward 

political freedom, but extend it to inward 

freedom from folly and vice — those tyrants worse 

than any king or nobles could be, and to carry whose 

yoke is most disgraceful and debasing. 



A DESPOTIC government falsifies the history of 
the country — like an individual who gives an 
untrue account of his life, if certain incidents in it 
do him no honor. 



CTRIVE rather to lessen your cares than to in- 
crease your riches; rather to be independent 
vourself than to rule over others. 



TN governing ourselves, the legislative authority 
belongs as naturally to the mind, as the executive 
to the body. 



TPHE sharper our ear becomes in hearing the 
voice of conscience, the more zeal our con- 
science shows in exhorting us; and the readier our 
heart becomes to follow the commands of con- 
science, the more keenly our conscience distin- 
guishes good from evil. The more our conscience 
perfects us, the more we perfect our conscience. 

[ 93 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

U*OR the good of humanity, mental capacity is 
generally attended with mental activity — so 
that most mines of the intellect are being worked. 



T^O render the world better, happier, and more 
beautiful, God appoints man His agent; to 
render the world corrupt, miserable, and odious, 
the devil appoints the same agent. It is for man 
tc choose the master he will serve. 



T ET not the pursuit of our own interests make us 
unmindful of those of others, nor our attach- 
ment to our family make us forget our duty to our 
country, nor our patriotism make us disregard the 
cause of humanity. 



\X^HEN your neighbor wrongs or insults you, 
your character is tested. Are you going to 
retaliate and be his equal, or will you return good 
for evil and kindness for rudeness and prove his 
superior? 



TT requires a great amount of moral strength to 
confess a weakness. 



/^J-REATNESS is attended with martyrdom. The 
great cherish the ideal of perfection, and, com- 
paring with it actual human nature and human 

[ 94 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

conditions, they cannot but see a multitude of im- 
perfections — which, prompted by love to mankind 
and by enthusiasm for whatever is good, true, and 
right, they try to reform. As, however, humanity 
see not their own failings and like not to be found 
fault with, they doubt the reformer's good sense 
and good intentions, and return mockery for self- 
sacrificing enthusiasm, and hate for heaven-in- 
spired love. 



T>Y discussing the shortcomings of others, we 
imply that we believe ourselves free from those 
faults and from any others equally bad — which is 
either presumption, or, at best, self-praise. 



ET your device be: to uphold, not to pull down; 
to pity, not to deride; to gladden, not to grieve; 
to protect, not to pursue; to guide, not to mislead; to 
soothe, not to irritate; to reconcile, not to estrange; 
to help, not to harm; to console, not to mortify; 
to befriend, not to repulse; to contribute to the grand 
harmony of the universe, not to impair it. 



HpHE thoughtless but good-natured are indulgent 
to themselves and others; God and men, there- 
fore, are also indulgent to them. The wicked and 
hypocritical are indulgent to themselves, but strict 
with others; they find, therefore, no favor either in 

[ 95 ] 



M EDITATIONS 

the eyes of God or men. The just but cold-hearted 
are severe against themselves and others; they 
deserve, therefore, recompense and esteem rather 
than love. The pure and humane are severe against 
themselves and indulgent to others; God and men 
love them. 



TF we appreciate the kindness of man and the 
beauty of nature; if we bear our sorrows in silence 
and let our friends partake of our joys; if we have a 
cheerful look and a friendly word for every one; 
if we are always ready to enter into the thoughts and 
feeling of others; if we like rather to listen than to 
speak, rather to give than to take, rather to show 
our acknowledgment of others than to call atten- 
tion to ourselves; if we are very careful not to offend 
and ready to forgive an offence; if we are uniformly 
polite to all people in all their moods — then we are 
worthy of being loved; and to be loved by men is, 
next to finding favor in the eyes of God, the highest 
aim. 



fl REAT minds never feel quite at home on earth 
— for the earth is mostly not inhabited by their 
kind. This feeling of loneliness engenders in them 
a longing for a more congenial, more perfect home. 
Then fancy comes to their aid and depicts that 
home; and hope promises it to them. This is the 
genesis of Heaven and immortality in the breast of 
mortal man. 

[ 96 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TT is by showing forbearance when impatience is 
expected, by saying a friendly word when anger 
is anticipated, that we win the hearts of men. 



T 



I 



HERE is more civility in attentive listening than 
in polite words. 



F we swerve not from the path of duty and gain 
our self-respect, if we learn to think and can 
commune with ourselves, we acquire a good and 
agreeable companion in ourselves, and become less 
dependent on the society of others. 



JOME people seem to imagine that the more talk 
they monopolize, the greater their social talents. 



Y\^E cannot always acquire the acknowledgment 
of the world, but certainly our own. 



W 



A s 



E often give the name of fortune or misfortune 
to the offspring of our own actions. 



S nature arms a thistle with a hundred thorns, 
while it leaves many a noble plant unprotected, 
so destiny often gives riches and power, the means 

[ 97 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

of defence against many hardships, to the vulgar, 
while it exposes the generous to the rough handling 
of the world. 



jpATE hasatwo temporary remedies for discontent: 
either it fulfils our wishes, or it renders our 
condition for a time so much worse that we hail 
with joy the return of the circumstances at which 
we had murmured. Of the former remedy it 
makes use very rarely; of the latter too often. 



TN the earliest ages men began trying to read in 
the unrolled scroll of the starry heavens. For 
thousands of years they had been spelling out the 
golden letters on the blue ground before they could 
fluently read and decipher the meaning. 



A S the greatest part of the heavenly bodies would 
revolve in darkness if they did not receive 
their light from suns, so would the greatest part of 
humanity walk in darkness if they did not receive 
their enlightenment from those intellectual suns 
who have a light of their own. 



*HE first-fruits of genius may be yet unripe; but 
there is no mistaking what kind of fruit it is. 

[ 98 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

/^REAT men usually speak little, but are eloquent 
on occasion. Their lack of interest for trivial 
matters is often the cause of their being silent when 
others speak — while, at other times, their enthusiasm 
for everything that appeals to the head and heart 
fires their imagination and calls forth all their com- 
mand of speech, when others, perhaps, have little 
to say. 

X-JOW great a share navigation has contributed 
to the fraternization of mankind! What an 
inspiration it was when the idea of constructing a 
vessel first occurred to man! What active apostles 
are our ships! What noble pride man may feel in 
being able to sail from shore to shore: to join to- 
gether what God hath put asunder! 



13EAUTY, as well as goodness, is an attribute of 
God, and men have at all times as much ex- 
tolled His glory when He revealed Himself to them 
in vision as they praised His goodness when He 
manifested Himself to them in His mercy. Thus 
art worships God — for it mainly springs from en- 
thusiasm over the beauty of God's world, and in- 
fluences mankind to share that feeling. 



T^O be profound in one thing, we must learn many 
things. It is by many tributaries that the 
stream becomes deep. 

« nrr_ [ 99 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

T^HE autumn of life brings forth the ripest fruit 
of the mind. 



V\/ r HEN man discovered the infinitude of the 
universe, the whole structure of his previous 
ideas about God, man, and the world fell in ruins 
at his feet, a heap of pitiful fallacies. The earth 
he had taken to be the world turned into a grain of 
sand; himself, the ruler of that earth sank into in- 
significance, and the insolvable problem faced him: 
Where to find a place for the eternal Spirit in an 
infinite universe of matter ? 



ENDEAVORING to give full and exact expres- 
sion to the highest thoughts and deepest feelings 
and searching for the right words all through the 
province of the language — great writers arrive now 
and then at the very confines of that province with- 
out finding what they are looking for. Then they 
go beyond the old limits and, making new dis- 
coveries, extend the domain of the language. 



HpHE man of science is inclined to look down on 
the poet — as the cultivator of extensive fields 
is apt to look down on him who lovingly tends a few 
flowers. 



[ ioo ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TNSTEAD of reading books indiscriminately, read 
those which are unanimously recommended by 
all capable of judging. Who would trust strangers 
rather than men of highest repute? Who would 
look for chance acquaintances and leave his letters 
of introduction undelivered ? 



A RT speaks a language unlike any other. It 
speaks not in words, but in form, color, and 
sound. Only very few understand this language 
fully. 

/^LD and feeble we walk slowly through a wintry 
landscape. Winter around us, winter within 
us; snow on the ground, the snows of old age on our 
bent head. Suddenly a dear old melody, cherished 
in our young days, strikes our ear. We stop and 
listen, and, behold ! our youth rises from the grave, 
our vigorous, energetic, restless youth, longing for 
love and pleasure and glory. We are young again, 
and it is perpetual spring. All around us innumer- 
able buds, bathing in the sunlight, break into blos- 
soms of resplendent colors and waft sweet fragrance 
through the mild air. The earth unrolls her green 
carpet for us to walk on; the sky spans its blue 
vault as a triumphal arch over our head. We are 
heroes again in our strength and daring; rich again 
in our health and bloom; happy again in the love 
we feel and the love we inspire. . . . Suddenly the 
dear old melody ceases. Youth disappears. Old 

[ ioi ] 



MEDITATIONS 

and feeble we walk slowly on through the wintry 
landscape. 

T END assistance to youth; lend assistance to old 
age. Help all that are not strong yet; help all 
that are not strong any more. 



HpHE Bible — that old, venerable stronghold of 
religion and humanity, morals, and ceremonial, 
laws and customs, wisdom and sentiment, history 
and legend, proverb and parable, prayer and song — 
which has defied all-destroying time for so many 
ages, which is overgrown with poetry as with ivy — 
let us revere it! 



V\/HAT does the Paradise story teach us ? That 
the world would be a paradise, if man never 
disobeyed the laws of nature which are the voice of 
God; that among all living beings, man alone is 
weighed down by being destined to die — for, 
through his understanding, he is conscious of death 
in life; that the venomous tongue of the tempter, 
insinuating and persuasive, is often the agent in 
marring our purity and destroying our peace; that 
if the man listens to the woman who listens to the 
evil spirit, he and she will have to bid farewell to 
happiness. 



[ 102 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

, \X7'HEN, starting from Shinar, mankind began 
spreading over the earth, it was the com- 
mencement of men separating into nations. When, 
starting from Palestine, the teaching of brotherly 
love began its triumphal march through the world, 
it was the commencement of nations re-uniting as 
men. 



T^HE Sabbath has not been instituted to enforce 
inactivity on the independent, but to grant a 
day of rest to the dependent. 



A/fOST people find that the commandment, 
"Love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
them which despitefully use you, and persecute 
you," demands more than the human heart is 
capable of, and yet, as enmity and hatred, the 
propensity to insult, ill-treat, and persecute — take 
from us life's joy and happiness, this command- 
ment actually means : give from your wealth of love 
and peacefulness to the poor who carry enmity in 
their heart and curses on their lips; have pity with 
the unfortunate whose feelings, words, and deeds 
are tainted with hate, insult, and persecution. 



A MAN whose ideal is perfection serves the true 
God, for God is but another name for per- 
fection. When Moses said, "Ye shall be holy, for 

[ I03 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

I the Lord your God am holy," he set up the highest 
ideal for all ages. 

"XX^E need the clouds as well as the sunshine; we 
need the dark days of grief and care as well 
as the bright days of joy and hope. The clouds 
bring us the fruitful rain, and the dark days are 
favorable to the growth of character. 



CUFFERING improves the heart, and good fruit 
grows in the soil ploughed by sharp pain and 
watered by tears. 

TPHE noblest hearts, the greatest benefactors of 
mankind had to drain the cup of sorrow, which 
rendered their hearts all the nobler and increased 
their zeal for doing good — for much of the sweet- 
ness of compassion and charity is distilled from the 
bitter draught of sorrow. 



CORROW and care, want and privation, loneli- 
ness and sickness, dependence and humiliation 
make up the bitter medicine by which the heart is 
cured of conceit and pride and indifference to the 
world's woes. 



[ 104 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

IFE'S dark hours disclose to the mind's eye 
sublime heights unseen in the bright light of 
happiness — as night reveals a thousand worlds in- 
visible by day. 

THIRST Asia, the eldest daughter, rose out of the 
sea — and God, the Father, blessed her and said : 
"Thou shalt be the first to know me, my attributes 
and my will." Then America, the second-born, 
lifted her head above the blue waters, and the Father 
blessed her and said: "Thou shalt be the first to 
proclaim the equality of all men." Africa, the 
third-born, then appeared above the surface of the 
ocean. "Thou shalt be the first," her Father said, 
"to discover by cultivation the full fertility of the 
earth." Next Europe emerged from the waves. 
"Thou shalt be the first," her Father said, "to carry 
science and philosophy, art and literature to a high 
degree of excellence." Last, Australia sprang from 
the ocean's lap, and the Father blessed her too. 
What, however, the blessing was. future generations 
will tell. 

A NATION is influenced by neighboring nations, 
as an individual is by close companions. 



'"THE epitaphs of the great dead which history 
writes, like epitaphs in general, are more or 
less in accordance with truth, and many of them are 
more or less effaced. 

[ 105 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

COME historians have the magic power to re- 
suscitate the dead past; others can only coffin 
it in their books like a mummy. 



TPHERE was a time in history when religion 
was the centre of all life and movement, 
thought, and interest. That period was symbolic- 
ally represented by the church steeples in the 
centres of the cities around which the houses were 
grouped. In our own times the tall factory chim- 
neys towering above the surrounding buildings are 
the fit symbol of our industrial age. 



'"THOUGH many a period in history be like a 
dark night, some great names shine, like stars, 
therein. 



nPHE desertion of the very champions of right 
and truth is more fatal to the good cause than 
all the attacks of its enemies. 



T-JISTORY is the diary of humanity. When the 
pen drops from the dead hand of one genera- 
tion, the following generation takes it up and con- 
tinues writing the wondrous tale. 



[ 106 ] 



MEDITATION 



TLJISTORY tells us by what experiences and at 
what cost humanity has acquired the little 
wisdom it possesses. 



T^HE same nation may be entirely different at 
different periods of its existence — for nations, 
like individuals, have to pass through helpless, un- 
conscious childhood; ignorant, combative boyhood; 
inexperienced, impassioned youth — before they 
arrive at maturity. A nation now free may, in the 
past, have allowed itself to be enslaved by tyrants. 
A nation now peaceable may once have been in the 
habit of remorselessly invading the neighboring 
countries. A nation now enlightened may, in for- 
mer times, have condemned the pure-hearted and 
noble-minded to a cruel death for being dissenters. 



HPHE destiny of a people, like that of an in- 
dividual, is not entirely determined by merit. 



A PEOPLE hears the voice of its conscience out 

of the mouth of its great men — and as there 

is no individual who never outraged his conscience, 

so there is no people that never did violence to its 

prophets, reformers, and teachers. 



[ io7 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

CTRST appears in the world the beautiful blossom: 
the noble thought; then develops from it the 
fruit: the great deed. 



l-JUMANITY found its tyrants first in the priest- 
hood, then in the military order; now it finds 
them more and more in the commercial class. 



A NATION must not resent being criticised, nor 
take all praise as their due. Let censure 
stimulate them to distinguish themselves in those 
qualities in which they had been found lacking, 
and let praise lead them to self-examination, to 
ask themselves whether they had really deserved 
that praise. 

A NATION must guard against conceit — for 
conceit in a nation, as in an individual, im- 
pedes progress. 

JUST as a father demands from his child not 
frequent protestations of love, but constant good 
behavior, so our heavenly Father requires from us 
not daily praises, but the leading of a good life. 



A PPRECIATE life, the gift of God, and render 

thanks to the Giver; appreciate the world in 

which God has placed you and render thanks to the 

[ 108 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

Creator. Petition not the Lord continually, nor 
praise constantly the things you are expecting from 
Him. Good children receive joyfully and thank- 
fully what their father gives them; but claim nothing, 
ask nothing, speak not of what they expect, remind 
not of what they had been promised. 



"PHE greatest blessings and the greatest afflictions 
God sends to men through men. 



A S the sun mirrors itself in the smallest brooklet 
while at the same time it enlightens the world, 
so Providence looks into every individual heart 
while at the same time He surveys the universe. 



/^OD created man in His own image, and every 
man creates his God in his own image. 



/^[.OD reveals Himself in man. Understanding, 
feeling, and conscience, the love of right and 
truth, the sense of beauty and harmony — are so 
many revelations of God. 



TROLLY sees not that we cannot do anything for 

God Himself; that we can acquire His love and 

show our love to Him only by what we do for man — 

[ 109 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

and wickedness chooses not to serve God by leading 
a pure life and doing good deeds which demand 
curbing the passions and overcoming selfishness, 
but prefers performing ceremonies which require no 
sacrifice. 



/JIVING is the joy of God. The more we rejoice 
in giving, the more we are like Him. 



A/TAN stands on earth and reaches toward heaven. 
The divine and the human meet in him. The 
earth is his mother, but he is also God's son. 
Every man is a demi-god. 



11JE who has to live in the midst of the noise and 
turmoil of the world and can only now and 
then resort to solitude for recreation, is inclined 
to have an exaggerated idea of the delights of re- 
tirement and to think he could easily dispense with 
society. He who has to live too much alone and 
can only at rare intervals enjoy the pleasure of 
society, is apt to form too high an opinion of the 
joys of human intercourse and to imagine it more 
indispensable than it is. God has meant us to 
have both, communion with ourselves and with our 
fellow-men; and we are to enjoy one and the other 
in due proportion. 



[ no] 



MEDITATIONS 

t^NJOY the good there is in men and things 
around you, and allow not the evil in them to 
harm you — as you keep in the warmth of the hearth 
and keep out the smoke. 



' I A HERE are people who, to find favor in the eyes 
of men, give to the Lord a small part of what 
they have amassed by the aid of the devil. 



A LL that we say must be true; but we must not 
say all that is true. We must not believe all 
that we hear, nor repeat all that we believe. 



^\UR good qualities will never be acknowledged 
unless we give people time to find them out 
themselves. 



' 1 5 HERE is something unnatural, laughable about 
the movements of the upstart in high society. 
He walks not, as it were, on his own feet; he struts 
along on the stilts of his riches. 



/^OOD society steers conversation so skilfully 
that it keeps aloof from the vulgar, silly, vain, 
and malicious — those fatal rocks against which con- 
versation is apt to strike. 

[ in ] 



MEDITATIONS 

JUDGE not rashly of men and things: judge not 
of the moon by one of her phases. 



TT is not that we have much to say which proves 
our social talents, but that people have much to 
say to us. 



\X7E find in general society more artificial than 
natural pleasure; more noise than harmony; 
more talk than sense; more politeness than good- 
will; more smiles than affection. 



T^HE unguarded tongue is like an unsheathed 
sword that may at any moment wound its own 
master. 



UAPPINESS is the goal we all pursue, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, and however differ- 
ent the paths we take through life may be — nay, not 
satisfied with transitory happiness ending with life, 
we call faith to our aid and perpetuate it through all 
eternity under the name of salvation. 



TF we are well and do right, have our daily bread 
and no master over us, we possess the principal 
conditions of happiness. 

[ 112 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

LJAPPINESS rests in a great measure on sim- 
plicity: on plain living, plain speaking, plain 
dealing. Plain living leads to better health, fewer 
cares, and more leisure. Plain speaking, the off- 
spring of truth, and plain dealing, the offspring of 
right, give us inward peace 



\X/'E are unhappiest if fate so wills it that the 
people with whom and among whom we pass 
our life have little in common with us; that the things 
surrounding us daily are neither of our choice nor 
to our taste; that our activity represents not what 
we can do best and love to do most, but what we 
have to do to sustain life. 



p^DUCATION has the task to strengthen the 
body, enlighten the mind, and ennoble the 
heart. A school that attends not to this three- 
fold task is incomplete. 



, \X^ r HEN God had created the trees, the ever- 
greens alone were content, all the others were 
not. Some found fault with their size, some with 
their shape, others with their leaves or their bark. 
The Lord then said: "If I fulfil their wishes now, 
they will soon find some other reason for complaint 
— for there is no satisfying a discontented nature. 

[ "3 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

I shall have to make them suffer privation, that they 
may learn appreciation; to give them pain, that they 
may know joy." And He sent forth the cold and 
the wind, and they despoiled all the discontented 
trees of their leaves. Then the bare, unhappy trees 
began moaning and wailing and crying: "Oh, what 
a misfortune! Oh, what a loss! Our leaves, our 
dear leaves, our beautiful leaves — gone, all gone! 
Will they ever return to us ? Oh, if they would only 
come back! We should be so happy; we would 
never complain any more. But alas, we shall never 
see them again — never!" The autumn passed by, 
the winter ran its course, but the leaves returned 
not, and the bereaved trees became sadder and sad- 
der, losing all hope. However, when the spring 
came, the trees noticed with thrills of joy little 
leaves being born unto them, which grew and grew 
and developed into full-sized leaves, just like the 
old ones they had known so well, but which now 
appeared to them of matchless beauty and without 
blemish. Ever since that time they have to lose 
their leaves in autumn, as a reminder of their former 
sinful discontent. 



/CHILDREN that take pleasure in disturbing, 
annoying, tormenting, destroying are worse 
than uneducated. Not only has nothing been done 
to make them humane, but diabolical inclinations 
have been allowed to take root and grow in their 
hearts — for it is the devil's distinctive mark to 
rejoice in doing harm and causing pain. 

[ "4 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

'"THE principal rules for educating children and 
governing a people are the same, and the 
schoolmaster and the statesman are more closely 
related than people generally imagine. 



npHE brains went school - inspecting and they 
were satisfied. The heart went school -in- 
specting and it sighed: "Letters, figures, dates, 
localities — is there nothing for me ? What are men 
thinking of in not considering me in the bringing 
up of their children ? How can they fail to under- 
stand that, if humanity is to aspire after the highest 
ideals, I must be the very centre of education ? " 



'yOTJR little children are dependent on you; all 
they are and have is owing to you, and they 
must be aware of it, if they are to be willingly guided 
by you. The moment your unreasonableness and 
vanity give them a certain power over you, they may 
use it for harm — for in the hands of a child power 
is as dangerous as a sharp-edged instrument. 



/CHILDREN love to busy themselves, to help, to 
be important; make use of these inclinations. 
Accustom them early to work and to useful work, 
without which there is no haopiness in life. 



[ "5 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

nPHE qualities which urge and enable men to 
acquire wealth and position, and those which 
give them the aspiration and capacity for nobler 
achievements, are seldom found together. The 
rich and powerful lack too often in nobility of soul, 
and generous minds are too often without means or 
power. Those that could do good are mostly un- 
willing, and those that long to do good are mostly 
unable. 

A S long as there is want among men, prodigality 

is not only folly and display not merely vanity — 

they are cruel monsters that devour what might 

feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, heal the sick, 

and comfort the disconsolate. 



TPHE wise are seldom rich; the shrewd are seldom 
poor. 

TF the dissatisfied poor would put to good use the 
time they spend in arguing against the rich, they 
could really better their position and do it in- 
dependently. 

T>Y studying foreign languages we understand 
better our own, although the knowledge of many 
languages may somewhat obstruct the fluency of our 
speech in each. The richer we are in thoughts, the 
more material we have for communication, although 

[ "6 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

the very abundance of ideas, all pressing forward 
to find expression, may somewhat hinder us from 
expressing every single idea with due care. 



r\IFFERENCE of language separates men from 
one another — thus the cultivation of languages 
contributes to the unification of mankind. 



TN an English or French sentence the words are 
strung in a row, like a string of pearls; in a 
German sentence they are artistically interwoven, 
like threads in a fine tissue. In the former there is 
more simplicity, clearness, and practical spirit; in 
the latter more art and combination. In the former 
is reflected the character of an active, matter-of- 
fact people, busy with political and social questions; 
in the latter that of a meditative and philosophical 
people, inclined to metaphysical abstractions. 



UREE yourself from your fictitious wants; you 
can easily acquire enough to satisfy your real 
needs. 



W 1 



r HEN the Germanic tribes had become imbued 
with Christianity, Gothic architecture was 
born. It was the offspring of daring strength 
wedded to high-soaring spirituality. 

[ "7 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



T< 



^O be a good observer we must be logical, im- 
aginative, and experienced alike — for most 
things do not present themselves to our observation 
all at once in their entirety, but a little at a time. 
Thus it is only by logical inference and by ex- 
perience that we are able to know the parts that 
constitute the whole, and to put them together; and 
it is only by imaginative power that we can guess 
at the missing parts. 

r\ISDAIN not polite forms as unbecoming a 
straightforward nature — for politeness is not 
weakening moral strength, but adorning it; just as 
sculpture makes not a column less strong, but more 
graceful. 

AS a rule, people are less inclined to be silent 
than to speak and least inclined to listen. 



TX/'HEN we live too much in society we often 
have to talk merely for the sake of talking — 
then it becomes difficult to avoid vanity, folly, 
untruth, and calumny. 

T^HE bright light of the present allows us not to 
see our great contemporaries, the stars in our 
intellectual firmament. It is only posterity that 
will see them shining in the dark night of the past 
and know their relative size and brilliancy. 

[ "8 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

' I *HE great men that lived in unenlightened times, 
among uncultured people, are particularly ap- 
preciated — like palms in the treeless waste; like 
water-springs in the arid desert. 



' I A HE great and noble mind is, like the sun, sur- 
rounded with light. It enlightens the intellects 
and warms the hearts of all that move in its sphere. 



'"PHE inmost space of the heart is a sanctuary, 
inaccessible to any one. 



TPHE higher the standpoint of our mind, the more 
comprehensive, naturally, its view. 



'""THERE are on this earth more flighty and un- 
reliable than firm and trustworthy characters — 
just as there is more unstable water than solid land. 



A/TAN is complete when combining an intelligent 
head with a good heart. 



TV/TUCH more is done for the cultivation of the 

mind than of the heart; yet there are fewer 

logically thinking heads than tenderly feeling hearts. 

[ ii9 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TT requires a particularly sharp eye to explore 
the miniature world in the human breast. 



T^HE weak or sickly mind has no taste for strong 
nourishment. 



TpHE lofty mind continues bright even when the 
sun of life has sunk low — like the high moun- 
tain on which the light lingers at sunset. 



A S man has been trying again and again to in- 
vent artificial wings by which to rise bodily 
above the earth — so he has always been striving 
to detach himself mentally from earth and soar 
heavenward on the wings of fancy. Nothing is 
more touching than this irrepressible human im- 
pulse, these indefatigable human attempts to rise 
aloft — despite the repeated failures, the frequent 
downfalls, the heaviness of the body tugging in- 
cessantly at the mind, the insurmountable difficulty 
for the earth-born to stay away long from earth. 



pVEN if the saving of your soul is your aim in life, 
you are selfish. To lead a pure, good, useful 
life must be your object; let the salvation of your 
soul be one of its consequences. 

[ 120 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

EQUALLY distant from the two extremes — from 
the torpid regions of cold-heartedness and in- 
difference on one side, and from the torrid zone of 
the burning passions on the other — in the beautiful 
temperate land, virtue and wisdom have taken up 
their abode. 



TpVEN hypocrites are doing homage to virtue by 
trying to pass for virtuous. 



A LIBRARY arranged and catalogued accord- 
ing to the size and cover of the books would 
greatly resemble our classification of society. 



15 E not hasty in your decision, which are the givers 
and which the receivers among men. At the 
mouth of a river it looks as if the sea was receiving 
and the river giving — yet the river only returns what 
the sea had given long ago. 



tlUMOR laughs softly, but cordially; it sheds 
silent tears, but they come from the heart. It 
sees the sublime and the ridiculous, the noble and 
the mean in all their gradations and combinations. 
It perceives not only part of the world at a time, 
but all parts at the same time. Therefore humor 
is not understood by many — for its gentle laugh is 

[ 121 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

easily overheard and its silent tear easily overlooked; 
the innumerable nicely shaded colors with which it 
paints the world in its inexhaustible variety are hard 
to distinguish and easily confounded. Therefore 
humor's sudden transitions — for it sees a tragic 
element in the comical, and a comic element in the 
tragical. Therefore it is seemingly inconsistent, 
inharmonious, fragmentary — as the world itself 
seems to be, if viewed in parts and not as a whole. 



'"THERE are people who cannot keep a secret, but 
have to confide it to some one whom they ex- 
pect to keep it. This is one of those rare instances 
when people have a better opinion of their fellow- 
men than they have of themselves. 



TF you find fault with the world as it is and hint 
at the desirability of a reform, people will un- 
consciously resent it — for they are part of the world 
which you find unsatisfactory. Their resentment 
will generally take shape in the thought or outcry: 
"What! the world is not good enough for him! 
Probably he is not good enough for the world." 



HpO her favorites Fortune gives a kind of compass 

which guides them on their voyage through life. 

The less fortunate, sailing on life's stormy sea, can 

only consult the sun and stars which frequently 

[ 122 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

withdraw their light — but the ways of Heaven 
become clearer to those who have to look upward. 



V^THEN misfortune comes over us, and we lie 
helpless, bleeding from deep wounds, it is the 
signal for many to pounce upon us like birds of prey. 
All the nobler is then the conduct of a few who, 
upholding the honor of humanity, hasten to our 
help, trying to heal our wounds and to keep away 
the preying multitude. 



p*HE statesman is only the helmsman, the cap- 
tain of the ship of state — and yet, if successful, 
he is adored, as if, godlike, he had supreme com- 
mand over weather and waves; and, if unsuccessful, 
he is made answerable for tempest and cliffs. 



DEOPLE will much rather ask your pardon if you 
overlook a slight than if you resent it — for they 
do not mind nearly so much confessing their wrong- 
doing as being taken to task for it. 



13 Y its perfect disinterestedness true friendship 
stands nearer to Heaven than love itself. 



t^AITHFUL friendship is a rare, inestimable gem 
that makes its possessor rich. 

[ 123 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

(~)F all virtues faithfulness is most heavenly. 
Unlike anything here below, it is not subject to 
change. 

^TATURES entirely unlike may be united in 
friendship as different sounds unite in har- 
mony. 

T OVE and friendship, like faith, must stand many 
a test to prove true. 



"LJUNTING for pleasure in company is often 
called friendship. 



TV/TOST children of man have never beheld the 
shining face of Heaven's daughter, Love. 
What they call by that name is only earthly, short- 
lived Passion. 



Y^HETHER we have attained our ideal of love, 
are still in pursuit of it, or have renounced it 
— we may enjoy happiness. It is only when, yield- 
ing to the temptation of interest, we have exchanged 
the high ideal for a low reality, that we must bid 
farewell to happiness. 



OVE most sublime is love to God; next to it is 

love to mankind; then follows half-heavenly, 

half-earthly love. That the last has been made the 

[ 124 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

subject of most poems proves not that it is the high- 
est theme of poetry, but that most poets can only 
rise to that height. 

T OVE contains an ingredient of selfishness; but, 
at the same time, engenders the greatest self- 
denial. It is the bait with which nature allures us; 
but, at the same time, it is sent from heaven to earth 
to bring the greatest joy into life. 



OVE, however true and pure, has an earthly 
element. It is the consciousness thereof that 
makes lovers embarrassed. 



OVE is life's centre, life's light and warmth, 
life's sun. Seek to acquire love; it will give 
you light in the darkness of adversity, and warmth 
in the winter of life. 



T-JAVING acquired love, we must daily endeavor 
to keep it — for love, like life, must be sustained 
by nourishment, or it sickens and dies. 



p*VEN the most prosaic, to whom love is a subject 
for ridicule, would be unhappy if no spark of 
love warmed their heart. They would know it 
themselves if they understood their own nature and 
their own life. 

[ 125 ] 



M EDITATIONS 

DATIENCE, courage, hope, and submission to 
a higher will break the serried lines of troubles 
in the battle of life. Were there, however, no love 
to beautify life and glorify our dreams of heaven, 
patience, courage, hope, and even faith would fail 
us. 



TT requires a great deal of experience to speak 
and behave in such a manner that people should 
not form a worse opinion of us than we deserve. 



V/I/'ITH eager longing the human heart, like the 
flame, tends heavenward. In vain does the 
cold breath of reason try to keep it down. 



HPHE spiritual is more powerful than the material, 
and yet the struggle between the two will 
never cease — for as often as matter is overthrown, 
it draws new strength from its mother earth, and 
stands ready again to resume the strife. 



TN the course of history mankind have tried not 
only all possible ways in which a people might 
be governed, but also all conceivable methods 
according to which an individual is to govern him- 
self. They have ascended and descended the 
whole scale: up to the absolutism of the mind 

[ 126 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

and disfranchisement of the body, and down to the 
despotism of the body and bondage of the mind. 



AS mind and body must live together on earth, 
let their relations be friendly — based on a 
mutual understanding, on knowing and respecting 
each other's rights, on the desire of both to contrib- 
ute to one another's perfection and happiness. 



Y^OUTH naturally thinks only of pleasure, joy, 
and happiness: of the beauty of life — for youth 
is life's spring, life's flowering-time. Manhood 
must think of helpful activity, the good of others: 
the usefulness of life — for from ripe manhood, from 
the autumn of life, we expect fruit. 



TN youth our thirst for pleasure, our fondness of 
companionship and our longing for praise; our 
ambitions, passions, and desires innumerable — 
prompt us to form more and more connections with 
men and the world. In maturer age our inclina- 
tion to quiet and our love of independence cause us 
to retire more and more within the circle of home 
and our own thoughts. In youth we are like a river 
overflowing its banks: we spread, we cover much 
space and are shallow withal. In maturer age we 
are like a river returning to its natural bed, and 
gain in depth what we lose in width. 
[ 127 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

DROUD youth looks down on old age, as the rich 
do on the poor — for nearly all the treasures of 
life are yet at youth's disposal, while poor old age 
has but a little remnant left. 



HpHE more we advance in years the less passion- 
ately we perform our own part on the world's 
stage, and the more attentive we become to the per- 
formance of others. 



\XTJ1AT matters it if age ploughs furrows in our 
face and heaps the snows of life's winter on 
our head; if the light of our eyes, like the light of 
day toward sunset, diminishes toward the evening 
of life; if time breaks gaps in the rows of our teeth, 
as does the strong enemy in the walls of a besieged 
city; if our shoulders are bent by the burden of life, 
our feet sore with the long journey and our hands 
shaking with the chills of old age! As long as our 
mind is bright and our heart warm, we are still 
surpassingly rich in life's blessings, and our bodily 
infirmities are only the tithe we have to pay from 
our abundance. 



\fOUTH i s the debtor of old age for the knowledge 
based on experience, and must pay the debt by 
due respect. 

[ 128 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



I 



N youth our home seems too narrow, and we feel 
drawn abroad; our country seems too small, and 
we are attracted by the wide world; our friends 
seem too few, and we want to increase their number; 
the attention people give us seems too slight, and 
we long to create sensation. In old age we love 
best our familiar corner at home, our birthplace — 
the scene of our earliest recollections — our few 
faithful friends, our tranquillity of mind undisturbed 
by the crowd. 

IJE who combines an active mind with a pure 
heart and childlike simplicity never grows old : 
he has discovered the magic fountain of perpetual 
youth. 

PHE best means to defy time and keep young in 
old age is to counterbalance physical retro- 
gression by intellectual and ethical progress. 



^X/'HEN young, when our own understanding is 
not yet fully developed either by years or 
experience, we believe humanity to be ruled by 
reason. When, however, our understanding has 
reached maturity, and our inferences are drawn 
more logically and supported by long experience, 
we find that humanity is much less swayed by reason 
than by emotions, impulses, fancies, whims; by 
chance happenings, chance actions, even chance 
words. 

[129 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

\X/ r HEN young, when we have little to com- 
municate and much to learn, we are, strange 
to say, very fond of speaking and little inclined to 
listen. When old, when we have much more to 
impart and need less information from others, we 
talk less and listen more. 



W/'E play with toys not only in childhood, but- 
all through life. If our playthings become 
larger, they are no less trifling — and if our faces 
assume a more serious expression, the play is not 
more important. 



TN honoring old age we express our reverence for 
certain virtues and mental qualities which are or 
should be found in old age. 



TpHE storms of adversity have a different effect 
upon us according to the time of life in which 
they assail us : whether in youth, in maturer years, 
or in old age. The winds in spring, however rough, 
affect us but little — for, after all, they strew blossoms 
about us and, if they scatter the clouds for a moment, 
the warm sun smiles down upon us. How different 
is our mood when the autumn wind is tearing down 
the leaves and whirling them all around us — or 
when the winter's storm, benumbing, cruel, and 
deadly, is drifting the blinding snow in our faces! 
[ 130 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

"XTTTHAT is left to us in old age of all the splendors 
of youth? A few recollections that cling to 
us like the dry leaves to the oak in winter. When 
emotions sweep through our old heart those dry 
leaves begin to rustle and they whisper to us half- 
forgotten, bitter-sweet recollections of buds and 
blossoms, green foliage, and golden fruit; of sun- 
rays, mild breezes, and cloudless skies; of the 
beautiful days that are forever past. 



A CHILD is happy in its innocence; a man can 
be so only through his virtue. A child is 
happy in paradisian peace; a man can be so only 
by doing battle and tasting the delights of victory. 
A child is happy in its sweet dreams; a man can be 
so only by aspiring to realize his dreams. 



TN the middle of man's lifetime, as in the centre 
of all matter, the power of attraction is con- 
centrated. It attracts us before we have reached 
it, and we approach it with joy; it attracts us after 
we have passed it, and we look back to it with regret. 



A FTER having reached a certain age we begin 

noticing very clearly how the ranks of our 

generation have thinned. We had begun to fight 

the battle of life in serried ranks; but now we see 

[ 131 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

only a few of our old comrades left, all standing 
isolated here and there in the field, like ourselves. 



TF superstition and prejudice would indicate only 
immaturity of the mind, but, on the other hand, 
be accompanied by child-like innocence; nay, even 
if they were the symptoms of a harmless imbecility, 
we might look at their pranks with a smile or pass 
them by with indifference. But, as history and our 
own experience teach us, they have often, in insane 
paroxysms, stained their hands with innocent blood 
— and, therefore, every endeavor to dispel them by 
spreading enlightenment is holy work. 



TGNORANCE and conceit keep people within a 
walled-in, narrow circle in the centre of which 
is their petty self. A step or two from the centre 
and there is the wall — and they recede to self. It 
is a miserable prison, but the prisoners know it not. 
Like captive animals they walk round and round 
in their cage; but, unlike them, they are content, 
never shaking at the bars. 



(CONSIDER in what condition man has found 
the world and what his activity has made of it. 
Then you will feel it your duty to contribute your 
part toward making the world better and more 
beautiful, and you will be proud if able to do more 
than your share. 

[ 132 ] 



T 



MEDITATIONS 

HAT we should work is the condition on which 
nature has given us life and is giving us health. 



PRESERVE and improve your health in body, 
mind, and heart by constant exercise. Exercise 
your body by useful work, your mind by reflection 
and study, and your heart by generous actions. 



EARN to be active without moving hand, foot, 
or mouth: learn to think. 



TF human industry would apply itself only to the 
production of what is useful, all would have the 
necessaries of life and the leisure indispensable to 
comfort and happiness; but humanity is over- 
worked and in want because so much of their 
energy is spent in producing what is useless and 
even harmful. 



/^\WING to liberty, equality, religious toleration, 
common schools, extensive and rapid means of 
communication, all races and classes now com- 
mingle and, everything being attainable by all, 
every one's ambition is stimulated and every one is 
striving to advance. This commingling and general 
striving engenders a kind of fermentation, a constant 
restlessness which particularly characterizes modern 
humanity. 

[ 133 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TN order to live we must have the necessaries of 
life, to procure which we must work; work is a 
condition of health, and health makes life desirable 
— this is the complete ring nature has formed. 



, \X7'ORK is sweet; dependence makes it bitter. 



TN despotically governed countries tyranny spreads 
from the throne down to the lowest subject, and 
servility spreads from the most abject serf up to the 
throne. Right is overruled by privilege and sold 
by corruption. The guilty can evade due punish- 
ment, while imprisonment, exile, and death impend 
over the noblest. Injustice, violence, and op- 
pression, like wild beasts escaped from their cages, 
run about freely in the streets, and the people are 
deprived of all means of defence. 



15 Y respecting the liberty of others we show that 
we deserve our own. 



AS we are justly restrained by our parents in our 

childhood, but gain our liberty when grown 

up — so may a people, when not yet developed, be 

restrained by their government, but gain their 

liberty when arrived at maturity. Freedom is the 

[ 134 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

result of deserving to be free, and only those have a 
right to it who can be trusted not to abuse it. 



nPO acquire the love of God by love to man is the 
soul of all religions. In regard to their soul 
they are all alike; only their forms differ. 



' I *HE starting- and meeting-point of all religions 
is love to God and man. Love weds all 
religions. 

A RELIGION that sets up false ideals is sure to 
be superseded by another. A religion that 
sets up attainable ideals may be superseded by 
another. A religion that sets up the ideal of per- 
fection is eternal. 



TT^HAT is immortal in the ancient religions has 
been and will be preserved: what is mortal 
in the present religions will pass away in its time. 



TN every intermarriage between members of 
different denominations, the essential part of 
piety, which unites all religions, triumphs over the 
unessential part which separates them — and a 
further step is made toward the fraternization of all 
mankind. 

[ 135 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

' I *HE divine in us makes us anticipate a future 
world where all is mercy, forgiveness, peace, 
and heavenly bliss. The human in us makes us 
transport our penal laws, necessary here below for 
our self-defence, human revenge and diabolical 
torture to Heaven full of love. The divine in us 
creates Paradise; the human in us creates Hell. 



"L-TOPE, consumed by the flames of death, rises 
again, phcenix-like, from its own ashes, to live 
on forever as Faith. 



T IFE is short and full of trouble; the body is weak 
and mortal — yet, let our clergy, the interpreters 
of God's attributes and will, beware of detracting 
either life or body! for it is God who created both, 
as He did eternity and the soul, and he who detracts 
the thing made defames the Maker. 



IKE master, like man. From the clergy of 
each religion we can infer what kind of master 
they serve. 



TPHE saints die; but the holy words they have 
spoken, the holy acts they have done, live on. 
These are their relics that are working miracles. 

[ 136 ] 



MEDITATIONS 
C^AITH makes Hope eternal and Charity divine. 

1~"*HE standpoint of humanity is becoming higher 
and higher, and he who rises not with the rest 
is like a house remaining on the same old level after 
the street had been raised. 



TN a very progressive country the ambition of 
the individual is greatly stimulated. Where so 
many advance, one is loath to remain behind. 



AT the wonderful structure of civilization, for- 
ever building and never finished, millions are 
working, but the plans are designed by a very few. 



^TONE so stupid or ignorant but what we may 
learn something from them, if we have much 
patience and little conceit. 



TF you want to learn how to impress people favor- 
ably by your manners, observe closely the im- 
pression your looks and words make on young 
people and form yourself accordingly. Youth, not 
having yet strayed away from nature, is simple ano! 

[ 137 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

sincere — and on the bright faces of the young you 
can clearly see the reflection of your personality. 

T^HE organs of speech can articulate but a very 
limited number of sounds, and of these few 
sounds all the words in all the languages are com- 
posed. If humanity would agree on the letters 
which should represent these sounds, and each 
language would make use of as many letters as are 
necessary to express the sounds contained in it, 
the spelling of all languages would be then easy, 
logical, and uniform. 

ALL spelling is naturally phonetic. When 
Cadmus invented letters he did not mean any 
letter to be silent, or any letter to have more than 
one sound, or two letters to have the same sound, 
or any sound to be expressed by more letters than 
one. English spelling disregards all this, is entirely 
anti-Cadmean, and can only be explained histor- 
ically, that is, it cannot be explained at all when 
taught, the scholars being then too young to under- 
stand such an explanation. It wastes time, makes 
the mind less logical, and does not train the ear, 
as phonetic languages do, for music. 



' | *HE church-steeple pointing heavenward, a 

finger-post for the faithful pilgrims on their 

way through life, is befitting the house of prayer: 

[ 138 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

but not so the churchyard — the graves of the dead 
surrounding the dwelling of the living God — not so 
any inscription on the church walls having reference 
to death. God is all life, and religion has only to 
do with life: life temporal and life eternal. If it 
so pleases God to lead us from life to eternity 
through the gate of death, it is not for religion to 
make us fix our eyes on the gate, but rather on 
eternity beyond it— not allowing the gate to obstruct 
the view. 



tj^AITH is perpetuated hope. As we entertain hope 
unbidden and uncertain of its fulfilment, so we 
cherish faith. Commandment is superfluous and 
demonstration impossible in reference to faith as in 
reference to hope. 



C*ROM the same germ hidden in the human heart 
two wonderful flowers come forth, one perish- 
able and the other eternal: Hope and Faith. 



HpIME, his mortal children in his arms, is eternally 
circling round the year's ring, the four-striped, 
green, golden, brown, and white ring. Forever 
dropping some of his children and taking up others, 
he never stops running round the variegated ring. 
Beautiful is this ring! the green as well as the golden 
stripe, the brown as well as the white stripe, are 

[ 139 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

equally beautiful — and it is glorious, borne along 
in the arms of time, to round the circle again and 
again; but when at last we are gently dropped on 
earth, it is just as well — for after all the travelling 
and sight-seeing, rest and sleep are welcome to our 
tired limbs and weary eyes. 



' I *HERE are cloudy days clearing up just at sun- 
set. After a day of rain and storm the clouds 
scatter, and the last slanting sunrays illume glori- 
ously the whole scene before the darkness of night 
settles upon it. There are cloudy lives darkened 
by misfortune, disease, poverty, and humiliation — 
brightening up just when the sun of life is sinking. 



nPHERE are people who are economical with their 
money and lavish with their health. When old 
age comes, they live, maybe, in comfortable dwell- 
ings, but they are housed in sick bodies; they are, 
maybe, independent in means, but dependent on 
medicine and doctors; they are, maybe, provided 
with everything, but unable to enjoy anything. 



"LJEALTH is given us on the condition of our 
being temperate; if the condition is not ad- 
hered to, the gift is withdrawn. 

[ HO ] 



MEDITATIONS 

IDE particular about your food, to guard your 
health, not to please your palate. 



TLJAVE great faith in nature and little faith in 
doctors. 



TT7'ITHOUT self-control life is exposed to the 
storms of the passions — and, like a light not 
screened from the wind, is too quickly consumed, 
or violently extinguished. 



13 Y repeated stumbling and falling we learn to 
walk through life. 



X/l/'HAT have been the causes of religious per- 
secution all through history? First: rapacity 
— which makes use of the name of religion to palliate 
its wickedness. It is so convenient to despoil with 
impunity, nay, with the applause of the people, 
simply by calling the despoiled heretics, and play- 
ing the part of an avenging angel. Secondly: 
fanaticism — which imagines God a despot who 
has once issued for all time certain decrees that 
are never to be altered and never to be examined, 
and which persecutes all those that think differ- 
ently as rebels rising against God's government. 
Lastly: the paid priesthood — in whose interest it is 

[ hi ] 



to 



MEDITATIONS 

propagate their own confession by suppressing 
v other. 



any other 



I 



F a man's understanding is not quite logical and 
his feelings are not quite pure, his religion will 
lack in logic and purity. 



AS wisdom and virtue are the founders and 
supporters of religion, so are folly and wicked- 
ness the causes of its degeneracy. 



HpITUS, the conqueror of Jerusalem, reenters 
imperial Rome with his victorious army. There 
he sits, proud and majestic, in his triumphal chariot: 
there they march, the invincible legions; there they 
carry, as trophies, the sacred vessels of Jehovah's 
Temple; there they lead the captive Jews. All the 
pride and joy is on the side of the Roman victors; 
all the humiliation and mourning on the side of 
the conquered Jews. Rome is resplendent, the 
mistress of the world; Jesusalem is desolate, 
levelled to the ground. But before the Romans 
had marched to Jerusalem to destroy Jehovah's 
Temple, the Jew Paul had gone to Rome and taught 
that doctrine which was to undermine and over- 
throw Rome's pagan fanes and erect on their sites 
temples consecrated to the God of Israel, the only 
God, the God of the universe. The eternal light of 

[ H2 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

Jehovah's sanctuary had reached Rome ere the 
golden candlestick was brought there. 



TpHE Greek garb in which the New Testament 
is clothed is so thin that the Hebrew form 
gleams through. 

HPHE truly religious in all confessions, those who 
aspire for the highest, belong to the same party, 
and are the opponents of all the truly irreligious 
who, having their eyes, animal-like, turned toward 
the earth, have only earthly desires. The different 
denominations, however, like the different languages, 
confuse the ideas of men. Just as the difference of 
language is set up as a wall of separation, instead 
of the good of all nations considering themselves 
allies and the common adversaries of all the bad — 
so the difference of denomination is falsely looked 
upon as a line of division. 



XJUMAN folly has made of a few plain precepts 
of reason and conscience, which would suffice 
for the guidance of the individual, all the number- 
less theological dogmas and religious systems that 
bewilder and separate mankind; and human wicked- 
ness has made of a few plain natural rules, which 
would suffice to control a community or a state, 
all the innumerable, entangled laws that fill the 
different codes of a hundred nations. 

[ 143 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

tpOR two thousand years the Hebrews had kept 
the light of monotheism burning before other 
nations began lighting their lamps at it — and even 
then, the Gentiles, not being used to that dazzling 
light, could not yet bear it and had to compromise 
with polytheism: amplifying the unity, creating a 
host of saints and, contrary to the decalogue, mak- 
ing unto themselves likenesses and bowing them- 
selves down to them. The Hebrews, however, 
have kept on burning the pure light of monotheism, 
and, as long as all the nations proclaim not yet, 
"The Lord our God is one Lord," doing away 
entirely with man-adoration and image-worship, the 
Hebrews have a grand mission yet. 



"XXTHEN God had chosen the Jews for His par- 
ticular people, foreseeing the untold suffer- 
ings they would have to undergo through this choice, 
He felt great pity for them — which increased His 
love for them still more. Love had been the cause 
of His choice, and His choice became a new 
source of love. 



VI^HEN Abraham, the first Hebrew, instead of 
having his son marry a neighbor's daughter, 
sent for his brother's granddaughter living at a great 
distance to come and be his son's wife, the four 
thousand years' separation of his descendants from 
the rest of the world began, and the first seed was 

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MEDITATIONS 

sown of their unparalleled glory and unexampled 
sufferings, both the sequence of this separation. 



l^OUR thousand years the Jews have been a living 
miracle: one unmixed wave in the midst of the 
surging ocean of nations. To this miracle hu- 
manity owes the Bible and the Koran founded 
thereon — and who knows what we may owe to it 
yet in times to come ? 



JUDAISM allows no amplification of the strict 
Unity, no man-adoration, no image-worship — 
and neither Jesus nor His disciples have in the least 
altered this essential spirit of Judaism, this chief 
characteristic distinguishing it from every form of 
idolatry. It was only by contact with paganism 
and as a concession to it that contrary doctrines 
appeared in Christianity. 



pOLYTHEISM, the belief in many gods differing 
in will and unequal in power, in a heaven of 
conflicting interests and perpetual strife, favors 
selfishness, inequality, dissension, and warfare 
among men. Monotheism, the belief in one all- 
powerful and all-merciful God, in a heaven of per- 
fect harmony, implies the idea that man, to find 
favor in the eyes of God, must strive by goodness, 

[ H5 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

peacefulness, and love to establish harmony on 
earth as well. 



\X7TTHOUT light and warmth nothing living or 
growing could exist; light and warmth are 
then the creative and preservative forces. This 
conception was the origin of sun and fire worship. 



HPHE Christian religion may become universal; 
but not before being expurgated from all 
heathen ingredients, from the concessions it had to 
make to paganism so as to spread rapidly in the 
pagan world. 



HPHE Mohammedans look up to the tribe from 
whom Mohammed has sprung; the Christians 
look down upon the people from whom Christ has 
descended. 



p*ROM the most secluded people, the Hebrews, 
went forth the teaching of the brotherhood of 
all mankind. 



CUFFERING has been productive of great results 

in the history of mankind. The law of Moses, 

ethically so far superior to that which he had found 

in Egypt, evolved mostly from the sufferings of the 

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MEDITATIONS 

children of Israel in that country — and the sentence 
often repeated, " For ye know the heart of a stranger, 
seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, " may 
be considered as the germ and nucleus alike of 
Mosaic ethics. Christianity, bearing the standard 
of highest morals into the pagan world, grew out 
likewise of suffering. The Jews, writhing under 
foreign rule in their own country and certain of God 
sending a redeemer to His own people, looked for- 
ward to a Messiah, an "anointed," a king of their 
own. After many false messiahs, who vainly im- 
agined themselves capable of delivering their peo- 
ple from the yoke of the Romans, Jesus appeared 
who, transferring the idea of a redeemer from the 
Jewish and political field to the universal and ethical 
domain, gave the impulse to redeem the human race 
by uniting them all as brethren loving one another 
and loving their common Father in heaven, by 
making of every man a brother of his fellow-man 
and a son of God. 



*HE path of the noble-minded on earth is like 
the path of spring: it is marked with blessings. 



TPHE mean, not finding any noble trait in them- 
selves, look for something degrading in others. 
As they can never say to themselves, "I am better 
than my neighbor," they try to discover that their 
neighbor is no better than they are. 

[ H7 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

HpHE noble-minded, impelled to defend every one 
who cannot defend himself, will always take 
up the cause of the absent. 



HPHE world is based on justice and graced by 
generosity. 



rUSTICE can lay claim to esteem; generosity to 
' love. 



T)E just and generous to your wife, children, 
friends, dependents, to mankind in general. 
Justice and generosity form the solid foundation of 
happy married life, the good education of children, 
the acquisition and preservation of friendship, the 
possession of our dependents' attachment and our 
fellow-men's love. 



' 1 5 HE outward shell of ceremony covers pro- 
tectingly many a noble fruit on the tree of 
religion. As, however, people in general only see 
with their bodily eye, they frequently know only 
the shell. They pay, therefore, no attention to the 
kernel when divested of its shell, and show venera- 
tion to the shell even when empty. 

[ us ] 



MEDITATIONS 

*^JO religion need fear coming in contact with 
another. Truth cannot be shaken, and if 
aught falls to the ground by the contact, be sure it is 
but a withered leaf. 



AS soon as we have recognized the truth that 
happiness is founded on virtue, the nature of 
our ideas about the hereafter ceases to influence the 
conduct of our life. 



IT is natural that servile natures and oppressed 
nations should imagine God a despot whose 
decrees must be obeyed, but need not be under- 
stood — and thus separate fatally religion from 
reason. 



SECTARIAN fanaticism divides men into hostile 
camps prejudiced against and warring with one 
another. True, deep religious feeling unites all 
men as brethren who, taking different paths, are 
trying alike to come nearer to their common Father 
in heaven. 



THIRST the religious idea is conceived, then it is 
symbolically represented in imagery and cere- 
mony. In the course of time, however, the people 
lose sight of the idea; the image becomes an idol, 
and the ceremony a meaningless performance. 
Then the scoffers who have penetration enough to 

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MEDITATIONS 

see the absurdity of idol-worship and inane rites, 
but neither head enough to know that a soul had 
once dwelt in the symbolical embodiment, nor heart 
enough to deal tenderly with the body from which 
the soul had departed — begin mocking at the symbol 
and lead many astray. Finally the noblest and 
wisest undertake to revive the idea among men and 
to breathe again into the symbol a living soul. 



T TSELESS ceremonies may overrun, like weeds, 
the field of religion, and have to be removed 
from time to time. It is the necessity of removing 
those weeds that gave rise at different periods in 
history to reformations and new religions. 



A S others are often better judges of us than we 

are ourselves, so one religion frequently finds 

its best judges among the adherents of another — 

and thus the plurality of religions contributes to 

reciprocal enlightenment. 



pVERY intolerant religion is idolatry exacting 
human sacrifices. 



TPHE human victims offered by savages on the 
altars of their idols are few compared with 
those sacrificed by civilized nations in religious wars 
and persecutions. 

[ 150] 



MEDITATIONS 

TSLAMISM has been spread with fire and sword; 
but even the spreading of a religion through 
outwardly peaceful proselytism is attended with 
cruelty — for many a conversion is stained with the 
heart-blood and the tears of those related to the 
convert. 



'""THE kind, the charitable, the considerate, the 
patient, the compassionate, the forgiving — are 
the missionaries of the true religion of brotherly 
love, propagating it by example. 



CWIFT-FOOTED Fancy and sweet - smiling 
Hope walked forth together into Future's wide 
domain, and all they saw was beautiful and glorious. 
On and on they rambled, when, all of a sudden, a 
yawning grave stopped their progress, and at its 
sight Hope paled and fainted. Fancy, bewildered, 
hesitated for a moment— then seizing her magic 
wand, she touched with it her dying companion, and 
lo! mortal Hope was transformed into immortal 
Faith. Fancy and Faith then passed over the 
grave into the infinite and eternal kingdom of 
heaven. 



CACRIFICES will always remain most essential 

in worship. To sacrifice part of our time, of our 

possessions to the benefit of others; to control our 

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MEDITATIONS 

temper, overcome our vanity, check our pride as 
an offering to the feelings of others; to bridle our 
passions as an oblation to our own true welfare — 
is not that essentially how we serve God ? 



TPHERE are three dietary laws: Earn your bread 

honestly; eat it with moderation and a thankful 

heart; and give to the hungry from your superfluity. 



; I A RUTH is like the sun. If it declines in one 
part of the world, it comes up in another; if it 
sinks at one time, it rises at another; if it is hidden 
for a while, it is only by passing clouds. 



l^ALSEHOOD entails insincerity, and insincerity 
bondage — for our soul is enslaved when we lose 
the liberty of being frank. 



T^HE devil puts an untruth into a man's mouth 
and exacts a hundred more as interest — for the 
devil is the greatest usurer. 



T^RUTH is the authority, not he who said it. 

[ 152 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



I 



N the course of time the same truth may be ex- 
pressed in different ways by different men; but it 
is in the words which express it best that it becomes 
generally known and does its beneficial work — for 
every truth is, as it were, a soul, and he who gives 
it expression clothes it in a body, and the soul of a 
truth transmigrates from one body to another until 
it has found the fittest form. 



PHE tiller of the ground is commonly no writer, 
and the pen is very rarely one of the instru- 
ments he cleverly handles — which is a pity and a 
wonder. It is a pity — for we should have faithful 
pictures of nature from the hand of him who most 
communes with her; and it is a wonder — for who 
could be more inspired to write than he who is 
daily surrounded by ever-varying and ever-beauti- 
ful nature ? 

' I S HE fancy of the poet alights on everything 
beautiful and extracts sweetness therefrom — 
as the bee does from the flowers. 



^HE artist, a creator, breathes into his work the 
breath of life and it becomes a living soul. 



T^HE words of the wise are like gems of high 
price: he who is a judge is struck with their 
value; he who is not takes no notice of them. 



[ 153 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

AMONG common people the shrewd pass for 
wise, the wise for dreamers. 



nPHE mental vision of the masses is dim, and the 
crafty, to further their own interests, often 
prepare glasses for them which make the objects 
look larger or smaller, nearer or remoter, brighter 
or darker than they really are. 



T^HE present, which is our own, and the past, 
which at least has been our own, occupy our 
thoughts much less than the future, which may 
never be ours. We seldom look back or enjoy the 
mere consciousness of living. It is with vain fears 
and idle hopes, which have only to do with the 
uncertain future, that our mind is generally filled. 



LJAPPY days that are past are like dear friends 
departed. They are gone; but their remem- 
brance abides with us to cheer us still. 



TPHE mind implanted in the narrow space of the 
present, without sending forth roots into the 
past and future, is easily swayed by the storms of 
adversity and passion. 

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MEDITATIONS 

jPO a great extent our future is decided by the life 
we lead at present, and our present was decided 
by the life we had led in the past. 



\AKE the advice of the past, and show your love 
to the future by caring for it at present. 



/~\H, the pathos of the past, the burial-ground of 
so much and so many dear to our heart, where 
part of our own life is forever entombed! And oh, 
the pathos of the future, where hope and faith are 
laying out those wonderful hanging gardens, that 
all-beautiful paradise floating in the air! 



HpKE night puts out the light of day, throws a dark 
veil over the earth, makes man rest from his 
work, and spreads quiet and stillness about him 
and within him. Having thus prepared him to 
listen and understand, she bids him look upward 
to the host of glittering worlds and, in hushed and 
impressive tones, she speaks to him: By day you 
have only seen a tiny part of the small earth in 
which you are rooted; now you have a glimpse of 
the infinite. By day your thoughts, like your vis- 
ion, have been confined to objects near; now let 
your thoughts dwell on eternity, while your vision 
faces infinitude. 

[ 155 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TpHE rocks are mute — yet if we become well 
acquainted with them they tell us the most re- 
markable experiences of a wonderfully long life. 
They are motionless — yet their history is full of 
records of many wanderings. They grow not — 
but their very sameness is imposing amid the per- 
petual changes around them. 



CPRING is the image of fresh merry childhood, 
of hope, resurrection, immortality; summer, of 
youth, passion, impetuous strength, and fervent 
aspiration; autumn, of ripe manhood, sedate cheer- 
fulness, rewarded labor; winter, of old age, deep 
earnestness, transitoriness, death. 



A MAN without sense of the beautiful, without 

enthusiasm, without poetical imagination, and 

be he ever so virtuous and ever so learned, is like 

a tree in winter which, though sound and strong, 

is bare, dreary, lustreless, and colorless. 



'"PHE poet is godlike — for he creates. 



TPHE heart of the poet is a beautiful region where- 
in perennial spring is reigning. It is an en- 
chanted land of buds and blossoms, songs and 
exultation, color and radiancy. 

[ 156 ] 



MEDITA T I O N S 

HpHREEFOLD is our life when our activity 
allows not the fleeting present to pass without 
leaving a trace; when our memory can resuscitate 
the dead past, and our imagination call into life the 
future yet unborn. 

U*VERY thought, action, occupation, event; every 
age, season, and time of day; every clime and 
scene; every object made by the hand of God or 
man — admits of an association of ideas and thus 
has a poetical element. 



' I *HE philosopher and poet climbs the heights of 
his mind and views the universe; he dives into 
the depths of his heart and brings up pearls. 



Y^THATEVER impresses us puts our mental 
atmosphere into vibration. The vibrating ca- 
pacity of this atmosphere we call sensibility; the con- 
tinuance of the vibration we call memory. Those 
of deep feeling and retentive memory not only hear 
the voices of the present more clearly, but they also 
hear more voices resound from the past — and the 
world's harmony is to them fuller and richer. 



TT is difficult for the sensitive to be worldly-wise, 

to pass over in silence from practical motives 

their real sentiments, and to accommodate their 

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MEDITATIONS 

sayings and doings to circumstances and people — 
for their feelings do not merely occupy a little corner 
in their breast where they can easily be hidden 
away; but they fill their whole being, are apparent 
in their faces, and apt to run over the border of 
their lips in words. 

A LL created things readily bring tribute to the 
philosopher and poet, so that thought and fancy 
may ever find nourishment. 



/^!.OD manifests Himself in the blossom as in the 
fruit; in the beautiful as well as in the useful. 



'"PHE autumn wind sweeps through the forest. 
It tears at the trees and shrieks: "I come to 
carry off your foliage." A young tree answers 
defiantly: "Take it! the next spring will bring it 
back to me." An elderly tree replies quietly: 
"Many a year you have brought me this sad news, 
but as often your gentler brother, the spring breeze, 
has whispered to me the glad tidings of the leaves' 
return. I will look hopefully forward to another 
spring." An old tree speaks softly: "My poor 
leaves, my own beloved children! how my heart 
aches for them, and how it grieves me to lose them! 
such beautiful, playful, chatty little folks! They 
have borne me company, have cheered me the whole 
summer. If it is God's will I shall have new leaves 

[ 158 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

next spring; but nevermore shall I have these leaves 
again." A tree marked by the woodman's axe 
thinks resignedly: "I trust I shall fall together 
with my leaves before the autumn wind separates 
us." 



HpHE wooden cottage says to the trees around it: 
"You extend to me your cool shade, you fan 
me with fresh breezes, and yet your brethren had to 
give their lives that I might come into existence." 
"We resent not," answer the trees, "we avenge not, 
we stop not to reason; we simply do unhesitatingly 
all the little good we can." 



HpHE foolish admire not the beauties of nature, 
which to them are simply natural. All their 
capacity of admiration they reserve for the super- 
natural, in which they naturally believe. 



HPHE earth is but an ant-hill. The white, black, 
yellow, brown, and red races that, like ants of 
different colors, crawl on it, are very similar to those 
insects. They are ridiculously serious, over-busy, 
forever hoarding and fighting. 



/^LOSELY observing human nature in different 

conditions and climes we cannot but think with 

joy: How many virtues humanity retains under the 

[ 159 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

most untoward conditions! and reflect with grief: 
How many vices man is a slave to under the most 
favorable circumstances! 



{~\UR inclinations set our energies in motion, as 
the sloping bed makes the river flow — and, 
as the direction of the river indicates the way the 
bed is sloping, so the direction of our energies 
shows what our inclinations are. 



\KT1L are more inclined to emphasize individual 
and national characteristics than the qualities 
common to the whole human family — as if our 
thoughts, perversely, liked better to dwell on the 
distinctive marks which separate men than on those 
touches which make all mankind akin. 



A/TANY of nature's phenomena appear also in 
ourselves. Violent storms rage in us; black 
clouds and the gloom of night envelop our mind; 
icy cold contracts our heart; sunshine spreads light 
and warmth within us. 



A WHOLE solar system comprising worlds, but 

moving without a will of its own, according to 

prescribed laws, is no greater wonder than man, 

guiding himself and encompassing the universe 

with his thoughts. 

[ 1 60 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

VOU say: Men are rather bad than good. Here 
are the scales; put all the good there is in 
humanity in one scale, and all the evil in another. 
Now take off from the scale of evil your own acri- 
monious disposition, and, you see, the scales are 
evenly balanced. Sweeten your disposition and put 
it in the scale of good, and you will find the good 
outweighs the evil. 

T LOOK with awe at a blank sheet of paper. 
Something might be written on it that would 
influence thousands for the good; that would 
stimulate all humanity, perhaps, to a great deed; 
that would be reverently, enthusiastically repeated 
by all future generations; that would be immortal 
and render the writer immortal. 



rpVERY time I speak or act unwisely I am vexed 
at my folly, but rejoice at being aware of it. 
I then determine to be wiser in the future and I 
think with rapture: how beautiful life will be when 
marred by folly no more! Then all at once an- 
other folly, just committed, stares me in the face. 
Thus vexation and joy, good resolution, ecstasy, 
and disappointment follow one another in unbroken 
succession again and again. 

T~*HE rule of priesthood is upheld by ignorance: 

the people submitting to it are too ignorant to 

comprehend that human beings, priests as well as 

[ 161 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

laymen, can know but little of the ways of God, 
and that the little the priests do know is within their 
own reach as well. The rule of aristocracy is up- 
held by servility: the people submitting to it slav- 
ishly think that certain classes are destined to have 
dominion over the others, just as man is to have 
dominion over the animals. 



PERSECUTORS have to be strong; they need 
not be right. 

HpHE persecuted in the past may be the per- 
secutors of the present; their cause is the same, 
but they had been weak, and now they are strong. 



; I *HE persecutors have prejudices against the 
persecuted which they allege as an apology 
for their conduct; but the persecuted may have just 
as many and fully as justified prejudices against 
their persecutors. 



T 



RUE benevolence comes down to want like the 
gentle dew, not like the boisterous rain. 



A/TAMMON'S statues stand in all streets and his 

temples in all places. Before every statue an 

adoring crowd are kneeling in the dust, while every 

temple is thronged and resounding with the voices 

[ 162 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

of ecstatic devotees. Mammon, the cold, empty, 
and heartless idol, his hand full of gold, is throw- 
ing it among the crowd who, eagerly snatching at 
it and wresting it from one another's hands, are 
so absorbed in this pursuit that they notice not 
the sweet light of day, nor the wondrous circling of 
the seasons, nor any of the flowers of pure joy spring- 
ing up within their reach; they hear not the voices 
of nature, nor the pleading of their hearts, nor the 
urgent claims of their minds. Meanwhile life is 
passing — void of true happiness and unhallowed by 
noble emotions or high aspirations. 



IKE boys rolling in the mud, scuffling to get the 
penny thrown in their midst, humanity lowers 
itself to the very dust in the inglorious fight for 
money, shrinking from nothing low and mean. 



' I *HE striving of the masses is to have more; the 
aspiration of the elect is to be more. 



TN the battle of life mistrust is the shield of the 
shrewd, cunning their sword, money their war- 
cry. 

C OME infidels in their talk of the Holy Scriptures 

are like foolish children who, with an air of 

superiority, give us to understand that they no 

[ 163 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

more believe in fairy tales; they know now that all 
that is not true. The unimaginative, the unpoeti- 
cal, the dry souls! They see not the eternal monu- 
ments of truth because of the tendrils of poetry 
that have, in the course of ages, twined around 
them. 



\/T OTHER NATURE mourns over the perverse- 
ness of mankind, her children. There is 
room enough on her lap and nourishment enough in 
her breast for them all; but they insist on crowding 
together by the million, while leaving countless 
acres uncultivated and uninhabited — on having 
innumerable desires for unnecessary and harmful 
things and taking up a thousand artificial occupa- 
tions to get the means of satisfying those desires, 
instead of applying for their few real wants immedi- 
ately to her, their mother. 



r\ISCONTENT implies the supposition that we 
should be happier if we could take the shaping 
of our destiny from the hands of Providence into 
our own — which is a great mistake. 



A NGER has a ridiculous side which is reflected 
in the smile often flitting over the faces of those 
who witness it. 

[ 164 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

V7TJLGARITY is the jarring disharmony, the 
ludicrous incongruity arising from the glaring 
contrast between external display and internal 
emptiness, between the profusion of things that are 
bought and the scarcity of qualities that cannot be 
bought. 



' I *HE gaping multitude, attracted by some in- 
significant thing, are themselves the attraction 
of the observer. 



INHERE are religious tenets which all men agree 
in considering sacred: there is a universal 
religion. The school is right not to occupy itself 
with denominational doctrines; but it is entirely 
wrong not to introduce instead that religious in- 
struction which teaches what is indisputably good 
and pure and true and right and noble. 



'"THE history of a people may be written and 
taught in such a way as to do more harm than 
good. If the history and the teacher expounding it 
declare that this people is better, wiser, braver, and 
more skillful than any other; that in all its inter- 
national differences the right was invariably on its 
side; that in all its battles it was victorious, or ought 
to have been, or would have been if this or that 
incident had not interfered — the history and the 

[ 165 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

teacher confirm conceit and prejudice and render 
the mind of the pupils illogical in all questions 
between themselves and others. 



T~*HE knowledge we acquire is but raw material; 
what we make of it depends on our skill. 



T ET " Right and Light" be our device. Let our 
life be a campaign against wrong and darkness; 
against the temptation of doing wrong; against 
our indifference to the wrong done in the world; 
against the darkness of ignorance; against the 
darkness in which falsehood, vice, and crime like 
to envelop themselves. 



V/I^HAT is truly agreeable is the result of what is 
truly useful. All that strengthens the body, 
enlightens the mind, and ennobles the heart is truly 
useful, and all the pleasures resulting from a vigor- 
ous constitution, a cultivated intellect, generous 
feelings, and noble deeds are truly agreeable. 



' I *0 reduce man's follies and vices — the principal 
sources of his misery — we must begin with the 
child. Humanity's evils would not grow so rank, 
if most of their germs were removed from young 
hearts in the parental house and at school. 

[ 166 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

\X^ITHHOLD not due praise, but be chary of 
rebuke — for praise encourages virtue, while 
rebuke discourages effort. 



HPO wander through life, undaunted by all the 
obstacles that lie across our path, on and on to 
a noble aim — is the holiest pilgrimage. 



A S the enjoyment of a dish depends on the way 
it is prepared, so does the enjoyment of life 
depend on what we make of it. 



X£"EEP the spring of life in its original purity; 
embitter it not by vice, nor sweeten it artificially 
by luxury. 



IFE'S road behind us seems short, even though 
the fatigue in our limbs proves the great dis- 
tance. Life's road before us seems long, although 
we may arrive at its end this very hour. 



OARADISE was lost by not obeying God; it 
might be regained by complete obedience to the 
divine laws and complete subjection to the divine 
will. 

[ 167 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

^JOD, the essence of all power, grandeur and 
grace, is the only true majesty — and the nearer 
we come to Him, the higher our nobility. 



^~!OD is all-merciful; the devil is cruel and mock- 
ing. The surest signs of a noble heart are 
utter incapability of derision and being ever ready 
to pity. In whomsoever you see these two qualities 
you see the distinctive marks of true nobility: the 
nobility of the soul. 



TT is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. Let 
the rulers and nobles, often the descendants of 
oppressors, consider it and not be too proud of their 
lineage; let the common people, often the descend- 
ants of the oppressed, consider it and not feel 
humbled by their extraction. 



TJE particularly careful not to offend the mean — 

for their evil passions are easily inflamed, and 

any offence, or what might be construed as such, 

will fire them with resentment ready to consume you. 



UOW pathetic, touching, heart-stirring are human 
life, human destiny, human endeavors, long- 
ings, devices ! Look how the poor children of man 
try to soothe the thousand ills of life and the pangs 

[ 168 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

of death; to extract joy from their wretched ex- 
istence, to attach importance to its utter insignifi- 
cance, and to make its short, thorny path to the 
grave lead to a paradise beyond! How they trans- 
mute their body, a hut of clay, into the temple of a 
soul; their blind gropings on the mole-hill, earth, 
into a particular concern of God, and the mole-hill 
itself into the centre of the infinite universe ! How 
they make the very destroyer, Death, ferry them 
over to a blissful shore ! With what ingenuity they 
connect their petty individuality with the immortal 
soul of the universe, the eternal principle of life! 
With what faith they grasp at heaven to save them- 
selves from the wreck of perishable earth! 



PRIVILEGES, even when not abused, are pro- 
ductive of harm. In a country, and be it other- 
wise most civilized, where there are privileged 
classes, the people's sense of right and wrong can- 
not but be weakened and their nature must become 
tinged with servility. 



YX/'RONG, when powerful, is not satisfied with 
suppressing right; it casts ridicule upon it. 
Thus it happens that right, even when might goes 
over to its side, has first to live down the ridicule 
that had been attached to it before it can fully 
prevail. 

1 169 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

JUST as true as "Woe to the vanquished!" is 
"Woe to the minority ! " and for the same reason : 
for being the weaker side. Woe to the weak! for 
being wrong prevents not the powerful from ruling, 
nor does being right save the powerless from sub- 
jection. Right is yet far from being equivalent 
to might, and the kingdom of heaven is long in 
coming. 

lV/TIGHT, lawfully wedded to Right, is frequently 
faithless and in love with Wrong. Right is 
then deserted and helpless; while Wrong, the 
favorite, is in power. 



TX^OMEN are worse and better than men. 
Following less the reasoning of the mind and 
more the impulses of the heart, they are often less 
just, but as often more generous and self-sacrificing 
than men. 

nPHE will of man cannot overcome that of woman; 
but, through love, his will may become hers. 



'VTOT by the tense reins of reason but by the 
yielding ties of love, woman will be guided. 



, \X/ r OMEN treat us frequently not so well as we 

deserve; bi 
than we deserve. 



V V 

deserve; but more frequently much better 



[ 170 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

'""THAT we overlook certain vices in men which 
we condemn in women has been the cause of 
lowering men and elevating women. That we 
overlook certain follies in women which we ridicule 
in men has been the cause of lowering women and 
elevating men. 



pOUR things impress us painfully: a child without 
cheerfulness, a man without energy, a hoary 
head without seriousness, and a woman without 
modesty. 



\\THO disparages women honors not his mother. 



"LJAVE the right kind of pride which rejoices in 
giving, helping, supporting. Let your hands 
be busy, your mind active, the holy flame in your 
heart kept burning — so as to contribute to the 
world's wealth, wisdom, love. Let it be your glory 
to do more for humanity than merely your share. 
Murmur not if fate refuses you success, if men 
refuse you kindness — as the beggar grumbles when 
his outstretched hand remains empty. Ask nothing, 
expect nothing: work and give. 



TN the short span of his life man recklessly wastes 

time, as if he had much to spare; to the thousand 

ills inherent in human existence he has the heart to 

r 171 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

add more by his foolish and wicked conduct; and 
with all his pitiful insignificance in the boundless 
universe he can discover a reason for conceit and 
haughtiness. 

HpHE doctor helps us to take care of our body, 
the lawyer to take care of our property, the 
minister to take care of our soul; but happy is he 
who, by temperance and work, by integrity and love 
of peace, by a pure heart and a noble life renders 
the help of the doctor, lawyer, and minister almost 
dispensable. 

A S distance in space makes objects look smaller, 
so distance in time makes men look greater. 



DY perseverance even small minds can achieve 
great things. Many a tiny rivulet has made 
a way for itself through the solid rock. 



HPHE bearer of a great name has to pay a penalty, 
as if it were a luxury on which a tax is levied. 
Otherwise not particularly insignificant, his great 
name makes him appear uncommonly small — just 
as a building of no mean proportions is dwarfed 
into diminutive size by a colossus overtopping it. 
On the other hand, however, he may gather fruit 
from this incident — for it is apt to stimulate him 

[ 172 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

to advance in virtue and knowledge and usefulness, 
and thus reduce to some extent the long distance 
separating him from his great namesake. 



T^HE fairest dream of our life is that all life is 
L but 
real life. 



but a dream, from which we shall awake to 



r*HE third part of our life we pass in deathlike 
sleep. It is the tribute we have to pay to our 
master, Death, in token of submission. 



pVERY passing day is a herald proclaiming 
Death's approach; but none heeds — until his 
solemn majesty suddenly appears. 



ILJOW scornful of death mankind engages in the 
battle of life! Generation after generation are 
swept away, and new hosts keep forever marching 
up undauntedly to fill the gaps! With music and 
song and flying banners they all rush to certain 
death! Different are their battle-cries, but the 
same unflinching courage inspires them all. 



TX^HAT is most beautiful in life ? A free hour — 

free from care, free from disease, free from 

dependence. It is only a short hour, for the clouds 

[ 173 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

of care, dispersed for a while, will soon gather again; 
the functions of the body may at any time be dis- 
turbed; our independence from others, from cir- 
cumstances and from our own frailties never con- 
tinues long — but while this free hour lasts, it is 
beautiful, the most beautiful in life. Then the 
mind soars as high as it listeth, as if it could fly 
straight up to the sun and drink its fill at the very 
fountain of light. Then the heart is transported 
with heavenly joy — feeling purified from all the 
dross of earthly passions and earthly desires. 



A LL that men demand from life — pleasure, honor, 
riches, power — they have to pay dearly for; 
mostly more than all that is worth. 



' I *HERE are people who say in their hearts: 
" Our possessions will not follow us after 
death; but, through charity, we send them in ad- 
vance to prepare for us a good reception." How 
beautiful is this faith! and how fruitful in good 
deeds ! 



TX^OE to the tyrannical government that allows 
not the people to feel at home in their own 
country! Woe to the cruel parents that turn the 
heart of their children away from their own father's 
house! Woe to the unhappy who forfeit the en- 
joyment of their own company! 

[ 174 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A PRESENT, and be it the least thing, becomes 
most precious if it expresses esteem, gratitude, 
attachment, friendship, or love: if it embodies a 
soul. When God had formed man of the dust of 
the ground, He breathed into him a soul, and com- 
mon clay became the noblest thing on earth. 



\7C7E strengthen memory by exercising it. 



HPHE oak is precautious: it clings to its old gar- 
ment until it receives a new. The birch is 
vain : she arrays herself in white amid all her dark- 
robed sisters. The poplar is selfish: it turns all its 
branches toward itself, grudging every one its shade. 
The palm is bountiful and self-sacrificing: it places 
itself in the desert to offer the wayfarer a refuge 
from the fierce rays of the sun. The snowdrop is 
inquisitive: it thrusts its head out earliest to look 
for coming spring. The rose is beautiful and 
modest alike: she tries to hide by enveloping her- 
self with manifold petals, and her beauty is only 
heightened thereby. The plainly attired, fragrant 
violet is of outward simplicity and inward worth. 
The gorgeous but scentless tulip is fond of finery 
and lacking in spirituality. 



A S frost turns flowing water into inert ice, so does 

the icy breath of despotism check the course 

of human activity; and as genial warmth makes the 

[ 175 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

ice-bound river flow, so does the sun of liberty set 
all the energies of the people in motion. 



TN the bitter-sweet musings of the exile, his be- 
loved, from whose arms he had been torn, appear 
to him as if transfigured, and their voices sound to 
his charmed ear like heavenly harmony. All their 
human defects and weaknesses seem to have de- 
parted, leaving them superhumanly perfect. His 
love to them is that love which God had first re- 
vealed to him in exile, cleansed from all earthly 
ingredients — and their love to him is so sublime 
that it combines angelic purity with divine for- 
giveness. 

t-JISTORY points out the steps of man's steady 
progress : the ever-increasing victories of mind 
over matter. 



OOK to your health in body and soul; strive 
for your independence from others and from 
your own passions; obey the dictates of your con- 
science, ennoble your heart, enrich your mind; 
widen more and more the sphere of your usefulness; 
give from your possessions, from your love, from 
your knowledge, from your wisdom, from your 
experience. 

[ 176 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A LL humanity may be divided in two principal 

parts: those that promote the world's welfare, 

prosperity, peace, and happiness — and those that 

check them; those that contribute to the world's 

harmony, and those that impair it. 



T"*HE lynchers, who institute themselves the body- 
guard of virtue, are as virtuous as the in- 
quisitors, who instituted themselves the body- 
guard of religion, were religious. 



T1JATE injustice; pardon the unjust. 



TT is not the noblemen, but the noble men, that 
rank highest. 



JESUS continued the holy work of the preceding 
prophets : to glorify love to God and man as the 
essence of the whole Law, and to declare ceremony 
as immaterial; to lay all stress on the doctrine of 
Moses: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy 
might," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself" — while treating the other Mosaical teach- 
ings either as contained in the above, or else as of 
secondary importance. 

[ 177 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

JESUS, like the prophets before Him, taught love 
and peace; severity to oneself, charitableness to 
others; hate of sin, pardon of sinners; relinquishing 
of earthly cares, trust in God; unremitting striving 
to lay up lasting treasures, indifference to perishable 
possessions. He inveighed against outward cere- 
mony overgrowing inward religion; against hy- 
pocrisy, ostentatious piety, self-complacency, race- 
pride, covetousness, inordinate ambition — and, like 
some prophets before him, fell a victim to the blind- 
ness and wickedness of the people. 



'TPHE sacred books of all religions contain the 
same material whereof a wise father makes 
use in instructing his children: truth clothed in 
poetry, morals in parables, the conception of God 
and the knowledge of man and nature in legends and 
miracles. 

TN the company of the intellectual the current of 
our thoughts becomes mightier and swifter, the 
flight of our fancy easier and higher; our memory 
seems to gain in power and freshness, and the latent 
sparks of humor and wit are elicited from our mind. 
We feel enriched by the new ideas and sentiments 
we hear and by those we discover in ourselves 



TN the company of the foolish our thoughts become 

stagnant and our speech loses its fluency. What 

stimulus to thought and speech can their conver- 

[ 178 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

sation give us ? What have we, what can we, 
or what do we desire to communicate to them? 
If we take up the thread of discourse, they break 
it by interruption or we drop it for their want of 
comprehension; and if they start a theme, we have 
no interest in it, feel no desire to take part in 
discussing it and, if we did, they would but sel- 
dom give us the opportunity. 



XXTE change our views in the course of our life 
so much that we have to respect the opinions 
of others if we want to retain our self-respect. 



TN times of political commotion the masses make 
all the noise; but it is the breath of a few think- 
ing people that makes those hollow instruments 
resound. 



TN moments when your beloved grieve you, become 
not impatient. Forget not what they are to 
you — and consider that even the sun, the source of 
all life, may sometimes vex us with its immoderate 
heat and dazzling rays. 



AS the hardest substance is dissolved by heat, so 
may the hardest heart be softened by the 
warmth of love. 

[ 179 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



HpHE sublimest creations of the mind have been 
inspired by love: by love to God, to mankind, 



or to a single human soul. 



TpO forgive is in the power of the will, but not to 
forget. Let us take, then, particular heed not 
to offend. 



HPHE old, having been young themselves and 
having a reflective and observant habit of 
mind, ought to understand the young through 
memory, reflection, and observation. It is much 
harder for the young to understand the old. 



VJIfE laugh more heartily at the droll expression 
of a child than at the pretentious joke of a 
jester; a plain-told tale may touch us more than an 
elaborate tragedy and amuse us more than a diffuse 
comedy; the misery of the poor and the anguish of 
the sick move us all the more, the less the sufferer 
complains; we pray with more devotion when enter- 
ing spontaneously the house of God than when we 
are called there at a stated time by the ringing of 
bells to take part in the general prayer. The more 
we let things speak for themselves, the greater effect 
they produce. 

t 1 80 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TF the company wherein you find yourself are 
disposed to merriment, disturb them not by 
your seriousness; if they are disposed to tease you 
good-naturedly, disturb them not by your sensitive- 
ness: be in harmony with the general tone. 



CONVERSATION is not made less agreeable by 
difference of opinion; but it might be made so 
by the way the difference of opinion is expressed. 



"^JO name is fine in itself; it is the good name that 
makes the -fine name. 



'"PHE entrances and exits on life's stage are in- 
cessant; our joy at those that come and our 
tears for those that go, follow each other in rapid 
succession — and long before we leave the stage the 
scene becomes to us bewildering and heart-rending. 



nPHE spark flies upward and expires — a true 
picture of human aspiration and the fleetness 
of human life. 



W^E are not here to stay. Like a drop hanging 
at the edge of a cup, we hover on the brink 
of this earth, until the fulness of years or a slight 
shock makes us fall. 

[ 181 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

p* ARTH is the creditor of us all; the debt we owe 

her is ourselves; and one day she will claim us. 

When? Where? Happy we that we know it not! 



CUN and moon are the paymasters charged with 
paying us off our destined time of life. The 
sinking sun says to us: "I have paid you another 
day"; the reappearing crescent says to us: "I have 
paid you another month." Sun and moon circle 
so swiftly that the debt is soon discharged. 



AT whatever age the good and wise die, their life 
has been long. At whatever age the good and 
wise die, their life has not been long enough. 



\/T OST epitaphs tell us less what the dead were 
than what the living should be. 



C! OME events in our life we understand thoroughly 
for the first time when living them over in 
thought in after-years — as some passages in a pro- 
found book become clear to us by repetition. 



*\^/TTH the warmth of kindness in your heart and 
the light of cheerfulness on your face, you 
will journey pleasantly through life. 

[ 182 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

[ IFE'S bitter herbs you must eat alone; but invite 
your friends to partake of life's sweets. 



HP HE faithful lie down to die as tranquilly as to 
sleep, certain of reawakening; the wise lie 
down to die as tranquilly as to sleep, certain of 
being in the hand of the same Power in death as in 
life. 



CELFISHNESS, a fatal disease of the heart, is 
almost as incurable and as isolating as leprosy. 



/")UR evil propensities recommend selfishness to us 
as our friend, and our credulous folly believes 
it. Thus selfishness is introduced into our hearts, 
and, under the mask of friendship, harms us all 
the more. 



CELFISHNESS is discernible even in the high- 
est speculations of the human mind: so much 
thought is given to the future of the soul and so 
little to its past, 

A/TEN who do not rise above the common level 
may grow warm in their own cause, but not in 
that of humanity; in the discussion of a reality, but 
not of an idea — for selfishness is their atmosphere 
above which their life-blood congeals. 

[ 183 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

pOUR things provoke disgust: vulgar display, 
haughty mediocrity, boastful ignorance, and 
sanctimonious villainy. 



JPHE powerful, high-soaring mind is, like the 
eagle, inclined to solitude — and it frequently 
has to be solitary, for very few can follow it in its 
flights. 



T^HE hour of twilight, bordering alike on the 
parting day and the coming night, is most 
inviting to meditation on past and future. 



tlE who likes to commune with nature and sees 
the divine therein, likes also to commune with 
himself — for in his own heart he finds again the 
wonders of nature and the revelation of God. 



T^O most people nature's vast realm is rather 
devoid of interest; it is only that particle of it 
which, perchance, belongs to them that occupies 
their thoughts. To most people mankind in gen- 
eral is rather indifferent; it is only the few near and 
dear to them they concern themselves about. But 
alas! possessions, kindred, and friends we may lose 
— it is only when we love all nature and all hu- 
manity that our interest in life can never cease. 

[ i8 4 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A VOID speaking of yourself: it is one of the most 
tempting and most harmful suggestions of 
vanity. 

TF we hunt after fame, we never overtake it; if we 
attain merit, fame comes to meet us. 



P^ISPLAY not wisdom and learning in society; 
strive not to instruct where you are to entertain. 



D EAL wisdom condemns not pleasure — for real 
pleasure is not in conflict with virtue. 



TF humanity were as easily moved to compassion 
as to derision, much of the world's misery would 
find immediate relief. 



TX^EALTH lives in a brilliantly lighted house; 
poverty in a dark hut. Wealth, therefore, 
sees not poverty and is seen by it too sharply. 



W/'E owe much of our life's happiness to our 
faithful friends; we owe much of our worldly 
wisdom to faithless friends. 

[ 185 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TN the literary market gems often sell at the price 
of beads and beads at the price of gems. 



U*ACH time of day, each season of the year, each 
period of life, has such particular, unexcelled 
charms that we could never decide which is the 
most beautiful. 



r^AIN-LOVING trade invents the fashion, 
change-loving vanity follows it, and gaping 
folly admires it. 



TPHE current of time, passing over all that men 
have brought to light from the mines of their 
intellect, gradually washes off all dross, leaving only 
pure gold. 



HPHE martyr proclaiming with his last breath the 
principle for which he gives his life; the ship 
loyally fighting for her country to the last, her flag 
still waving above the waters which are closing over 
her — what sight more touching! 



HPHE mean shun their benefactor. The con- 
sciousness that, had they been in his place, 
they would not have acted so nobly — makes them 
feel uncomfortable in his presence. 

[ 186 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

HPHE haughty are most insufferable when con- 
descending; the vulgar are most ludicrous 
when exhibiting their refinement; the mean are 
most contemptible when chuckling over their own 
shrewdness. 



HpHE high-minded wonder at the eager contest of 
the people for things exceedingly small. They 
are like one standing on a high mountain to whom 
the slight elevations in the landscape at his feet are 
scarcely perceptible. 

A S rust marks the base metal, so does sordidness 
the ignoble nature. 



15 E not like water seeking the lowest level; be like 
the flame ever striving upward. 



V^E are all sentenced to death; the executioner's 
axe will infallibly fall on our neck — and what 
we call a long life is only an aggravation of the 
sentence: being condemned to witness first the exe- 
cution of those dearest to our heart. 



TPHE living present will turn into the dead past. 

Abuse not the living present or you will be 

haunted in the future by the ghost of the dead past. 

[ 187 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

jLJ OW short is life ! — and yet how much suffering 
can be compressed within so little space! 



"PHE earth is furrowed with graves, and we live 
carelessly and cheerfully on it — like children 
playing on a tombstone. 



AS long as we have wishes left, life is bearable; 
when the world appears to us so dreary and 
void that we see nothing desirable in it, then the 
worst has come. 



jT\EATH is eternally besieging universal life and 
storming its defences; but life stops every 
breach as soon as death has made it. 



r\ESCEND into the depths of your own nature; 
explore those regions; find out all that is hidden 
there; remove thence whatever is hurtful, cultivate 
whatever is good. If you discover there a deep 
well, draw the living waters; if a mine, work it; if 
pearls, dive for them. 



T^HE services we can render to mankind are so 
various that there is for every one a particular 
sphere of useful work; we have only to find our 
place and fill it well. 

[ 188 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TV/FAN'S sublimest endeavor is to render his 
memory immortal, so to live as to perpetuate 
his name by benefiting humanity. 



"^'EITHER difference in race nor in language nor 

in creed is a barrier between men. All the 

generous hearts and noble minds are natural allies 

and the opponents of all the mean, base, and wicked. 



"PHE highest culture and the lowest degradation 
are found in cities — for men become most 
polished and most brutalized by men. 



A LAS that wisdom should prefer to come to us 
at an age when most temptations have left us! 
It solemnly presents us with a shield after the battle 
has been fought! 

TGNORANCE is darkness and folly is blindness; 
knowledge is light and wisdom is sight. 



TpHE eye of the wise penetrates things; the foolish 
see no more than the surface of things; the vain 
and selfish only see themselves in all things. To 
the wise, things are transparent; to the foolish, a 
dark mass; to the vain and selfish, a kind of mirror. 

[ 189 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TV/TOST people have no opinions of their own — 
what they consider as such have been im- 
parted to them by others and are liable to be changed 
by the influence of others. They keep account, 
indeed, of the money that passes through their 
hands and could tell how much of it is their own; 
but they keep no account of the ideas that pass 
through their heads and cannot tell which have 
originated there and which have been suggested to 
them by others. 



TT may so happen that we have had a friend for 
years and had not known the depths of his 
nature until some unforeseen event suddenly re- 
vealed them to us, and we stand amazed at the 
revelation. We had never known how wonderfully 
deep the sea was on which we had been sailing so 
long until, by a mere chance, we sounded it. 



U*VERY day the cries of the sufFering and the 
gasps of the dying reach our ear from the surg- 
ing sea of humanity, but they affect us little — while 
the sufFering or death of one we know and love 
overwhelms us with grief. Bountiful Providence 
that has disposed it so! It would wring our soul 
incessantly and beyond endurance if we had for all 
mankind the warmest feelings of which our heart is 
capable — and if we had them for none, life would be 
disconsolately and unbearably cold and desolate. 

[ I90 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



"^JEITHER Job's wife nor his friends under- 
stood him — the former's counsel and the lat- 
ter's consolation prove it — and this caused, per- 
haps, his acutest suffering. 



X/TEMORY garners the fruit which study has 
reaped; economy husbands the means which 
industry has acquired; temperance preserves the 
health which God has given us. Without memory 
and economy study and industry would be of no 
avail, for the sea could not fill a leaky vessel; and 
without temperance health would not abide with 
us, for the strongest body could not long withstand 
the ravages of intemperance. 



A/ffENTAL products that have grown up in the 
chilly atmosphere of want and under the 
dark clouds of care usually have, like the plants of 
the frigid zone, something stunted, colorless, and 
scentless about them. Those that have ripened 
under the genial skies of happiness have the luxuri- 
ousness, glow, and fragrance of tropical plants. 



TT often happens that first we acquire and have 
not the prudence to hold fast to our acquisitions; 
then we lose and become prudent by experience, 
but have never occasion again for the exercise of 
our prudence. 

[ 191 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

ILJOW blissful that moment when we feel our- 
selves freed at last from the grasp of disease! 
when the mind, like a poor bird miraculously 
rescued from the claws of its captor, can fly aloft 
again; when the heart, that had been agonized or 
torpid, may thrill again with joy in life. 



A S you see your image in the river, so you see in 
the river an image of all humanity and all life. 
Forever the river flows on, seemingly the same, but 
the water is ever changing; forever the current of 
humanity and of all life flows on, seemingly the 
same, but all the drops in the current are ever 
changing. 

AX^HAT is life without health! A crumbling 
structure kept from falling by feeble props; 
a poor, crippled thing precariously supported by 
crutches. What is beauty without health! A 
shapely vase shattered and broken; a fruit pleasant 
to the sight and worm-eaten at the core. 



JO-CALLED good living is often the cause of 
bad health. 



T LOOK with interest tinged with sadness at the 

combat between the fair and the gray hair on 

my head, notwithstanding I know on whose side 

[ 192 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

the complete victory will ultimately be — for alas! 
the fallen in the fair army of youth are never re- 
placed, while the forces of gray old age continually 
increase. When I first beheld a gray hair on my 
head a sharp pain shot through my heart — for 
well did I know that the gray-uniformed conqueror 
will be followed by innumerable comrades who will 
gradually annihilate all the fair representatives of 
golden youth. 



T HAVE been young and now I am old. I have 
been young and I was tossed about on the sea 
of life by the storms of passion and ambition — and 
now I am old, and, the storms being hushed, I am 
approaching in a calm the other shore. I have 
been young, and inexorable nature, pressing me into 
her service, goaded me with earthly love, and the 
hot blood and inexperience of youth set on me fierce 
desires and hungry longings which pursued me 
without rest — and now I am old, enfranchised from 
serving nature's purposes and allowed to live for 
myself — and, knowing by experience the futility 
of most human pursuits, I am not agitated by vain 
ambition, nor robbed of that precious tranquillity 
of the mind which alone enables man to be fully 
conscious of the glory of living. 



[ LOVE the world — our dear, beautiful world. 

Nature enraptures me with her charms; my 

eye is forever resting with delight on her. Every 

[ 193 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

morning with the reawakening of my senses re- 
awakens also my love to her. She appears to me 
ever young and beautiful, clad in festal garments 
and smiling enchantingly. I cannot resist the 
fascinating influence she exerts upon me; I have 
repeatedly to declare her my love and to break forth 
into praises of her beauty. I never tire of observing 
her and ever discover new beauties in her. In 
whatever raiment she may choose to appear, 
whether in the white mantle of snow, in resplendent 
green, in plain autumnal brown, or adorned with 
gay and fragrant flowers — however her mood and 
whatever the expression of her face, whether she is 
quiet or storming, smiling or crying, beaming with 
joy or clouded with sadness, she is bewitching and 
irresistible. And the inhabitants of this earth, my 
brethren, how I cling to them with every fibre of 
mine! how I rejoice in everything that redounds to 
their honor or is conducive to their happiness! how 
many good, amiable, admirable, touching traits I 
find in their character! how grand is their history, 
their gradual evolution through the ages! how 
pathetic is their life! how self-sacrificing their love! 
what miracles does their mind work, what flights 
does their fancy take! what a variety of touching 
pictures offer the different stages of their life: tender, 
helpless childhood; blooming impetuous youth; 
resolute, energetic manhood; sedate, thoughtful old 

a g e! . . 

tlOW sweetly Nature expresses a promise! she 
brings forth a blossom. 

[ 194 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

CPRING often brings us rain and sunshine at the 
same time. Young spring, like a child, laughs 
and cries simultaneously. 



LJOW enviable are the trees! spring rejuvenates 
them again and again to their life's end. 



nPHERE at the horizon, where they meet, heaven 
and earth often hold converse. Their favorite 
theme is man, in whose breast they likewise meet. 



T^ANCY, entranced by the glory of the rising or 
setting sun, dreams a dream. It endows the 
sun with human feelings and imagines that, at 
arriving or parting, the sun is moved — and that it 
is this emotion which makes his face flush and glow. 



^^'ATURE is so economical that she wastes 
nothing, but so fond of change that she allows 
nothing organic to remain quite the same for one 
single minute. She wants to keep everything for- 
ever and to change everything all the time. 



T^HE world is full of small people; great men are 
but thinly scattered over the earth. Grass- 
blades grow thick together; giant trees stand at rare 
intervals. 

[ 195 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



I 



NSIGNIFICANT men are like shallow cisterns: 
the few ideas and sentiments they have are stale 
and soon exhausted. Great men are like deep 
wells: their thoughts and feelings, fed from ever- 
flowing sources, are always fresh and inexhaustible. 



HPHE difference in size among animals is small 
when compared with the difference in intellect 
among men. 



nPRULY great men combine a cool head rising 
high above all prejudice and superstition with 
a warm heart wherein the tenderest feelings abide. 
They are like those gigantic mountains whose snow- 
crowned summits tower above mists and clouds, 
while their sunny slopes are clad with the most 
luxuriant vegetation. 



TN literature, philosophy, science, art, there are 
a few central figures of first magnitude shining 
in their own light, like the sun; and a multitude of 
subordinate attendants who circle round them and 
receive light from them, like planets or satellites. 



1 ELL me your judgment of women, and I will 
tell you with what kind of women you associate. 

[ 196 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

A/IISTRUST your power to convince your wife 
if you have only reason on your side; mistrust 
your power to gain her esteem if you have only 
justice on your side. You will have to call love to 
your aid in either case. 



DRAISE your wife for her good qualities and they 
will increase; overlook her faults and they will 
diminish. 



V\^ITH man love is, indeed, powerful; but with 
woman it is all-powerful. With man love is 
surrounded by equal forces that exert as great an 
influence upon him for good or evil; with woman 
love tolerates no equals, only subordinates. With 
man the inner government is representative in which 
love has a vote; with woman the inner government 
is absolute at the head of which stands autocratic 
love. 



CWEN with the most virtuous woman vanity is so 
great that it pleases her not if a man is in regard 
to her as virtuous as herself. She would rather 
have him flatter her vanity and rebuke him in the 
name of virtue. 



^RUTH hits the mark; falsehood rebounds and 
hits the marksman. 

[ 197 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

CELFISHNESS and conceit beget prejudice, and 
prejudice blunts the edge of reason. Men rob, 
torture, and kill their brethren and find their actions 
fully justified, because those brethren are dissenters. 
They enslave their fellow-men and feel no com- 
punction in doing so, because those fellow-men's 
skin differs in color from their own. 



\X^ORTHLESS in themselves, men will glory 
in their noble birth, and, unable to discover 
anything else to their credit, the followers of a more 
powerful sect will pride themselves on not being the 
followers of one less powerful. 



TGNORANCE is accompanied by lack of interest 
— for we are naturally indifferent to things we 
know not. The greater our knowledge, the more 
extensive is our sphere of interest and the less we 
are subject to listlessness and tediousness. 



TPHERE are people so insolent that they look at 
you in a way as if greatly astonished and 
highly amused at your existence in a world inhabited 
by such superior beings as themselves. 



TF we always tell the truth we stamp our words 
with a mark that makes them current. 

[ 198 ] 



MEDITATIONS 



T^RUTH is the sun round which the human 

mind is perpetually revolving and to which, in 

general, it is coming nearer and nearer; but it will 

never reach it — for the distance is as infinite as 



eternity itself. 



/^RUSH falsehood in the germ: one untruth 
produces many. 



TF you have uttered an untruth, acknowledge it at 
once; remove without delay the poison that might 
infect your whole life. Better do the penance of 
self-accusation than lose innocence, self-respect, 
and the right to be sincere. 



i 



N vain untruth fortifies itself with double and 
triple walls : the betrayer is within. 



"INNOCENCE is attended with frank speaking, 
as good health is with easy breathing. 



T-JAPPY he who has nothing to hide, whose eye 
is the bright mirror of his heart, whose words 
are the frank expression of his thoughts! 

[ 199 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

T^ITH all the misery which is the common lot of 
humanity, in spite of sorrow and care, sick- 
ness and death that none can escape, humility is 
seldom man's companion through life — and he will 
proudly look down on his brother when he has a 
spark of intellect more which will soon be ex- 
tinguished, a physical advantage more which will 
soon crumble into dust, a pretty bauble more which 
he will soon leave behind him. 



1-JAUGHTINESS is the sign that hangs over the 



door of folly's abode 



XJE who knows little readily laughs at him who 
knows less; he who knows enough to realize 
the infinitude of knowledge can never be proud of 
the little he has learned. The river, I dare say, 
passes haughtily the brooklets and rivulets until it 
comes within sight of the ocean. 



TF people lay too great claims to the esteem of their 
fellow-men, even their just claims will find little 
acknowledgment. 



'W'O one can overcome his evil inclinations with- 
out a hard struggle, nor end the struggle before 
the end of his life. 

[ 200 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

HP HE resolute walk persistently toward their aim 
and in time reach it; the irresolute stray so 
often from the direct path that their life-time suffices 
not to bring them to their goal. 



^OOLOGICAL parks are a triumph of the 
human mind. Man, physically weak, but in- 
tellectually grown a giant of stupendous strength, 
gathers together from all parts of the earth wild 
animals, that had been in the first stages of his 
development his terror and scourge, and puts them 
behind iron bars before which little children may 
safely gaze at the monsters! 



^TOTHING impresses us so deeply with the 
amazing power of the human intellect as 
astronomy: that familiarity of man with the avenues 
of the heavens winding between the stars — and 
nothing makes humanity look so insignificant as 
astronomy: that science which reduces the planet, 
earth, man's whole world, to a small dark speck 
revolving in boundless space. When man made 
his greatest discovery, the infinitude of the universe, 
he discovered his own littleness; when his mind 
soared highest, his pride was brought down lowest. 



TPHE first buds, the first grass-blades, the first 

flowers appear — the year is born. All is 

growing, smiling; an indescribable air of freshness is 

[ 201 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

on everything — the year is in its sweet childhood. 
The heat becomes intense, vegetation luxuriant; the 
thunder-storms rage — the year is in its passionate 
youth. The fruit ripens on the trees; the cornfield 
is waving with its golden harvest; the heat subsides; 
the thunder-storms abate; a gentle quiet replaces 
the impetuous rush and hurry — the year is in its 
ripe, sedate manhood. The days decrease, the cold 
increases; snow, the white shroud, covers the dead 
earth; the song of birds is hushed; the bare trees 
look like skeletons — the year is in its hoary old age. 



"^'OT an atom in nature can ever be lost; it can 
only change. Individualities perish; but the 
same amount of substance exists forever. In this 
sense, the body, being matter, is immortal; the soul, 
representing individuality, is mortal. 



T^HE plants hang out their flower-signs: "Here 
are sweets." The bees come and drink their 
fill, paying their reckoning by carrying a wing-load 
of pollen from one plant to another. 



A S we are physically bounded by the atmosphere, 

so we are intellectually circumscribed by limits 

above which we cannot rise. Some metaphysicians, 

however, disregarding this boundary line, dare rise 

higher. Then their fainting mind, like one in a 

[ 202 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

trance, sees visions, and these visions they take to 
be the result of highest thinking. 



HpHE speaker, the writer, must know what to 
leave unspoken, unwritten. What is thus left 
out is as important in speaking and writing as the 
pause in music. 

*\7[/ r ITH every new language we acquire our mind 
becomes less narrow, less hedged in by na- 
tional prejudices. 



V\^E inherit the whole treasure of knowledge 

accumulated by all the generations that have 

lived before us. We are all heirs to untold riches. 



UOLLOW not blindly the opinions of others; try 
to find out yourself what is right or wrong, true 
or false. Go to wisdom's own school and ac- 
knowledge no authorities. 



VflRTUE is the health; wisdom is the beauty of 
the soul. 



AS long as folly admires bright rags, vanity will 
put them on. 

[ 203 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

TN the crowd of the blind adorers of fashion we 
find the mob of the rich and poor alike. 



t^ASHION equalizes; good taste distinguishes. 
Fashion is for the blind masses who can only 
follow; good taste is for the few who are endowed 
with a sense of beauty. Fashion is a despot: it 
need not explain its decrees, but demands implicit 
obedience; good taste submits well-founded projects 
for approval. 



TN vanity's blind worship of beauty she will even 
sacrifice health on the altar of her idol by doing 
violence to nature: by trying artificially to correct 
nature's imperfections and supplement nature's 
deficiencies. 



tfREE yourself from the idolatry of fashion, from 
worshipping that Moloch in whose consuming 
arms people put with fanatic ecstasy their means, 
their time, sometimes even their peace of mind, 
their honesty, their good name. 



'X/'ANITY is robed in tinsel. She holds a looking- 
glass in her hand. Over her face pass alter- 
nately a self-complacent smile and a haughty ex- 
pression. She likes to talk, and preferablv of 

[ 204 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

herself. She is silly, ignorant, and flattery can do 
with her whatever it pleases. She is all for outward 
show and is empty within. She likes a crowd and 
cannot bear solitude. She longs to shine, to be 
admired, to create sensation, to reap applause; but 
the joys of self-respect, of inward life, inward peace, 
inward happiness; the love of independence, of 
frugality and simplicity are foreign to her. She 
delights in everything new, extraordinary; in vari- 
ety and the variable; but is insensible to eternal 
nature and eternal truth. 



T OVE of finery is a confession of one's own 
worthlessness, an open declaration of being on 
a level with the animals that are valued according to 
their furs and feathers. 



"THERE are natures endowed with all the inward 
gifts that render them capable of understanding 
and feeling the grandeur and beauty of the world; 
but adverse circumstances, like the cherubim with 
the flaming sword before the gates of Eden, allow 
them not to enjoy this grandeur and beauty. Para- 
dise beckons; the guards are inexorable; the soul is 
consumed with longing. 



VTENERATE what is venerable; worship no false 
gods. Revere freedom, independence, truth- 
fulness, manliness; do not sacrifice them on the 

[ 205 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

altars of the idols: avarice, inordinate ambition, 
vanity, dissipation. 



PHE best teachings planted in our heart will not 
take firm root before our understanding can 
grasp them, nor bear fruit before our experience 
confirms them. 



TF we live so as to satisfy our own conscience, we 
will be satisfied with most people and most 
conditions. 



HpHE passions, disease, want, and dependence are 
the principal obstructions on the road to hap- 
piness. 



A4"OST authors write books, as tailors make 
clothes, in accordance with the prevailing 
fashion. Their writings may now be generally 
read; but, like the clothes now generally worn, will 
soon be out of fashion and cast away. The few 
authors that write for all times may now be read 
only by the few that are capable of appreciating 
them; but they will be read with admiration and 
delight by the thinking and feeling of all ages to 
come, and their names will be fondly and reverently 
handed down from generation to generation. 

[ 206 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

AN impure book often finds a multitude of read- 
ers. It is the corrupt therein that attracts the 
insect-like swarm of lower natures. 



LJISTORY begins after man's dominion had 
become firmly established on earth. Like the 
history of a king, the history of man begins with his 
accession to the throne. 



tJIS kingly power and kingly right over all other 
living beings man derived from his intellectual- 
ity, and all his history, dating from the time his 
reign began, is the relation of his intellectual de- 
velopment. 



TF people would be as saving of their time as of 
their money, their utilized leisure minutes would, 
in the aggregate, make up an astounding mental 
capital — as their small savings, collectively, amount 
to millions. 



1 HE least time is lost to the thinking mind — for 
thinking fills up any gap in activity. 



HpHINKING, or communing with ourselves, 

speaking, or communing with others, and 

working, or being useful to ourselves and others — 

[ 207 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

fill up time. If we have not learned to think, find 
no pleasure in conversation, or, worse than either, 
like not to work — our time is full of gaps, where 
tediousness, melancholy, discomfort, and disease, 
those horrible monsters, like to lurk. 



HpHE present, hemmed in between the dead past 
and the dark future, would be ineffably dreary 
if unaided by memory and imagination; by memory 
which brings life into the dead past, and by imagi- 
nation which brings light into the dark future. 



O' 



|UR thoughts, fluttering in the field of the past, 
are attracted by the pleasant hours they dis- 
cover here and there, as butterflies are by blossoms. 
Alighting for a little while, they revel in the sweet 
memories those hours contain. 



HpHE same world appears different to every 
individual: mirrored in human hearts it has in 
each a different reflection. 



TF God implants in our hearts love of nature and 

of humanity, He gives us all the world to enjoy, 

to be interested in, to feed our thoughts on, to 

[ 208 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

extend our sympathies to. We can never feel en- 
tirely lonely as long as humanity breathes, nor 
entirely homeless as long as nature surrounds us, 
while our interest in life can never flag — for we feel 
the world's pulse throb through our own veins, the 
universe being as much a part of our own life as 
we are of universal life. 



"^"ATURE, intent on perpetuating the species, 
creates earthly love; human nature, bent on 
going beyond the limits of the animal kingdom and 
approaching the kingdom of heaven, idealizes love 
and elevates it to a feeling most holy and divine. 
Nature lays down the law of eating and drinking 
for all living beings; human nature idealizes ani- 
mal feeding by expressing thankfulness to heaven 
whence comes all life and the sustenance thereof. 



HPO find pleasure in excess and mischief, in harm- 
ing himself and hurting others, lowers man 
beneath the level of animals. 



f\ HAPPY youth, happy school-days! when we 

grow every day in body and mind; when the 

future lies so bright and hopeful before us; when 

our parents shield us from care, and our teachers 

[ 209 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

make the path of knowledge smooth; when love is 
waiting for us at home and instruction at school. 



DARENTS often wonder why their children are 
not good, and they themselves are the cause. 
People in need often wonder why their friends help 
them not, and they themselves are the cause. As 
well might the earth, while standing between the 
sun and moon, wonder why the moon is not in full 
lustre. 



^LREAT minds are at a disadvantage in general 
society. They are in the awkward position of 
one who wants to buy trifles and has only notes of 
great value about him. Stored with gold bars and 
gems, they are not supplied with the small change 
of current talk. 



T^RUE politeness induces us to step out of the 
narrow circle of egotism, which confines us to 
thinking of ourselves, and enter into the thoughts 
and feelings of others. It distributes reward of 
merit by showing appreciation in a manner most 
agreeable and most acceptable, and stimulates those 
to whom it is addressed to render true what is said 
in politeness. It interlaces prosaic conversation 
with flowers of poetry and ennobles every-day 
intercourse. 

[ 210 ] 



MEDITATIONS 

^DMIRATION of the excellent and the beauti- 
ful inborn in higher natures is supplanted with 
the masses by common curiosity which gazes with 
just as much interest at defects, deformity, misery, 
and degradation. 




[ 2" 1 



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